JP3530311B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention discharges a sheet on which an image is formed by an image forming section to an in-cylinder discharging section provided above the image forming section in the apparatus main body through an in-cylinder discharging path. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer that can be discharged by rollers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a copying machine, for example, a sheet on which an image has been formed in an image forming section is discharged to a side discharge tray 62 provided on a side of a main body 61 of a device as shown in FIG. It is generally discharged. In the copying machine, as shown in FIG. 6, the in-body discharge unit 6 is provided above the image forming unit 63 in the apparatus main body 61.
4 is provided, and the paper on which the image is formed by the image forming unit 63 is delivered to the in-body ejecting unit 64 through the in-body ejecting passage 65.
Some of them are designed to be discharged according to 6.

[0003]

However, as in the copying machine shown in FIG. 5, the paper is discharged to the side discharge tray 62 provided on the side of the apparatus main body 61. Since the side discharge tray 62 comes to largely protrude from the side of the apparatus main body 61, it requires a lot of space for installing the apparatus, which is not suitable for use in a small office. was there.

Further, since the paper discharge direction of the paper discharge passage 67 for discharging the paper is substantially horizontal toward the outside as shown in the figure, the paper discharge port has a sorter or the like as shown in FIG. When the adding device 68 is mounted so as to selectively change the paper discharge place, there is a problem that the lateral width W of the device becomes larger by the amount of the adding device 68 as shown in the drawing. .

On the other hand, the in-body sheet discharging section 64 as shown in FIG.
In the case of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine having the device inside the apparatus main body 61, there is no problem of the paper ejection tray protruding from the side portion of the apparatus main body as described above, so that space saving when installing the apparatus is achieved. Can be achieved. However, in the case of such an in-body paper discharge type image forming apparatus, a problem may occur when a plurality of paper discharge units are provided so that the paper can be selectively discharged to the paper discharge units. there were.

That is, as shown in FIG. 8, for example, an additional paper ejection tray 69 is attached to the upper part of the in-body paper ejection unit 64, and the paper ejection roller 66 is located downstream in the paper ejection direction (to the right in the drawing).
If the sheet branching portion 71 is provided on the paper, it is possible to selectively discharge the paper to the arrow B or C in the apparatus main body (inside the body) 61. However, in this way, the paper branching portion 71 having the width Wa is additionally provided in the apparatus main body 61 having a limited length, so that the discharge space of the in-body discharge portion 64 is correspondingly increased. Since Spa becomes narrow, there is a case where a large-sized sheet that could be placed originally cannot be placed unless the sheet branching unit 71 is attached.

On the other hand, if the lateral width Wb of the entire apparatus is widened by the width Wa of the paper branching portion 71, the paper discharge space of the in-body paper discharge portion 64 can be secured at the initial size. However, in such a case, the lateral width Wb of the entire apparatus becomes wide, and thus it becomes impossible to install the image forming apparatus of the in-body discharge type in a space-saving manner.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and enlarges the entire apparatus even if it is an in-body sheet discharge type image forming apparatus in which the sheet discharge section is provided in the apparatus main body. It is an object of the present invention to enable a large size sheet to be selectively discharged to a plurality of in-body sheet discharging sections without performing the above.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a reading unit for reading an image of an original and a reading unit for reading the image.
Documents read by the scanning unit, which is provided below the scanning unit
Image forming unit that forms the image on the paper, and the reading unit and the image forming unit
Stacked sheets of paper with an image formed in the image forming section
The in-body discharge section and the in-body discharge section
Above the image part, the support part of the device body that supports the reading part,
The paper with the image formed on the support section of the
In an image forming apparatus having an in-body sheet discharge passage for guiding the sheet to an image forming section, between the reading section and the image forming section,
Additional output tray that can be detachably installed by
An image is formed by being provided in the holding part and branched from the in-body discharge path
Branch output for guiding the stored paper to the additional output tray
And a passage .

[0010]

[0011]

Further, in the image forming apparatus, the supporting
It is installed in the holding part and the paper exit in the body is
The direction along which the paper that is conveyed in the discharge direction is guided along the paper discharge path inside the body
The first position to guide in the direction and the first position to guide to the branch discharge passage side.
It is rotatably supported at the position of 2 and supports the urging force of the urging member.
A movable guide plate that is always urged to rotate to the first position,
The movable guide plate, which is provided on the support part, is moved from the first position.
Can be attached / detached to / from the device body that switches to the second position
A dynamic guide plate drive means may be provided.

[0013]

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a copying machine which is an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In a copying machine as an image forming apparatus, a sheet P on which an image is formed by an image forming unit 2 in the apparatus main body 1 is provided inside the apparatus main body 1 above the image forming unit 2 and a in-body discharge unit is provided. It is possible to discharge the sheet 6 through the in-body sheet discharge passage 19 by the sheet discharge roller 20.

The image forming unit 2 forms an image on the photoconductor 4 by writing an image with light from the laser beam scanning device 3. Then, in this copying machine, the paper P on which the image is formed by the image forming unit 2 is fed to the straight paper discharge unit 5 and the in-body paper discharge unit 6.
A branching claw 7 for switching the discharge path in order to selectively feed the sheet to any one of the sheet discharge units is provided as shown in FIG.

In addition, as shown in FIG.
9 upstream of the paper ejection roller 20 in the paper ejection direction (to the left in the figure)
Is formed with a branch discharge path 41 that branches in a substantially vertical direction from the in-body discharge path 19 and is conveyed in the discharge direction through the in-body discharge path 19 to the branch portion 40 of the branch discharge path 41. A movable guide plate 43 rotatably supported is provided at a position shown by a solid line in the figure for guiding the paper P to the paper discharge roller 20 side and at a position shown by a virtual line for guiding the paper P to the branch paper discharge passage 41 side. There is.

A position at which the movable guide plate 43 is always guided to the paper discharge roller 20 side by a biasing force of a torsion spring 44 which is a biasing member as shown in FIG. It is designed to be biased to rotate. As shown in FIG. 4, the movable guide plate 43 has a shape that is long in the width direction orthogonal to the paper discharge direction, so that the movable guide plate 43 reliably guides from a small size paper with a narrow width to a large size paper with a wide width. You can do it.

The movable guide plate 43 is rotatably supported by the apparatus main body 1 (FIG. 1) by a shaft 45 integrally fixed to the movable guide plate 43, and the operation piece 4 is provided at one end on the back side of the shaft 45.
One end of 6 is fixed. When the operation piece 46 is pushed in the direction of arrow A (may be set to pull)
First, the movable guide plate 43 is moved to a position for guiding the paper P in the in-body discharge path 19 to the branch discharge path 41 side as shown by the phantom line in FIG. A movable shaft 50a of a solenoid 50, which is a movable guide plate driving means, is rotatably attached to the operation piece 46 by a pin.

The solenoid 50 has a main body portion (a portion other than the movable shaft 50a) fixed to the apparatus main body 1 by a bracket or the like not shown. Therefore, when the solenoid 50 is energized (ON), the movable shaft 50a projects from the position shown in FIG. 3, so that the upper end side of the operation piece 46 is pushed to rotate the movable guide plate 43, and the position is changed. Branch paper discharge path 4 from the position indicated by the solid line for guiding the paper P conveyed in the in-body paper discharge path 19 to the paper discharge roller 20 side.
The position is switched to the position indicated by a virtual line that guides to the 1st side.

The branch discharge path 41 is a discharge path used when discharging the paper P to the additional discharge tray 47,
The additional paper ejection tray 47 is detachably attached to the apparatus body 1. In this embodiment, the operation piece 46
Although the movable guide plate 43 is fixed to the movable guide plate 43 via the shaft 45, the operation piece 46 may be directly fixed to the movable guide plate 43 without the shaft 45 serving as an intermediate member.

As shown in FIG. 1, this copying machine is provided with a contact glass 33 on the upper portion of the apparatus main body 1 and a reading optical system 34 on the lower side thereof, and the lower portion of the apparatus main body 1 has two stages. A paper feeding unit 31 is provided. Further, in the image forming unit 2, around the photoconductor 4 which rotates clockwise in FIG. 1,
A charging roller 8, a developing device 9, a transfer roller 11, a cleaning unit 12 and the like are provided.

A registration roller pair 13 is arranged upstream of the photosensitive member 4 in the paper conveying direction (right side in FIG. 1), and a registration sensor 14 is arranged further upstream of the paper conveying direction. Further, a fixing device 15 is arranged on the downstream side of the photoconductor 4 in the sheet conveying direction, and a post-fixing sensor 36 is arranged on the downstream side of the sheet conveying direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, the branch claw 7 has one end rotatably supported by a shaft 17 and the other end rotatably attached to a movable shaft 16a of a solenoid 16 by a pin 18. ing. The solenoid 16 has a solenoid main body 16b fixed to a fixed portion of the apparatus main body 1 by a bracket (not shown). As it descends as shown, the branching claw 7 is brought to the rotating position shown by the solid line in the figure, and the paper conveyed there is guided to the in-body discharge path 19.

Further, when the solenoid 16 is energized to be in an operating state, the movable shaft 16a is attracted to the solenoid body 16b side to move upward in FIG. 2, so that the branch claw 7 is shown by a phantom line in FIG. The sheet is switched to the rotation position, and the sheet conveyed there is guided to the straight sheet discharge path 21 of the straight sheet discharge section 5 this time.

The in-body discharge path 19 is used for discharging the paper on which an image is formed in the image forming section 2 as shown in FIG. A fixed guide 23 fixed to the apparatus main body 1 and a fixed guide 23 disposed outside the fixed guide 23 at a predetermined interval, and the rear end in the sheet advancing direction is near the entrance of the in-body discharge path 19. On pin 2
The movable guide 25 is rotatably supported by the carriage 4, and the conveying roller pair 26 and the like.

The straight paper discharge unit 5 is a paper discharge unit used when the paper P on which an image is formed in the image forming unit 2 is discharged as it is onto the paper discharge tray 27 without inverting the front and back. One end (lower end) of the paper discharge tray 27 is rotatably attached by a pin 28 in the vicinity of the pin 24 serving as a support portion of the movable guide 25.

In this copying machine, when a manuscript is set at a predetermined setting position on the contact glass 33 and a start key (not shown) is pressed, the reading optical system 34 optically scans the image of the manuscript, and the manuscript is read. The image is read. Also,
During this copying operation, the photosensitive member 4 rotates in the clockwise direction in FIG. 1, the surface of the photosensitive member 4 is uniformly charged by the charging roller 8, and then the laser beam corresponding to the image of the original read by the reading optical system 34. Is irradiated by the laser beam scanning device 3, and an electrostatic latent image is formed there. Then, the electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing device 9.

On the other hand, the paper P is fed toward the registration roller pair 13 from the paper feeding stage selected from the paper feeding sections 31 arranged in two stages, and the paper P is fed by the registration roller pair 13 to the photosensitive member. The image (visual image) on the photoconductor 4 is transferred thereto by the transfer roller 11 and is separated from the photoconductor 4.

The paper P is conveyed to the fixing device 15 where the image is fixed, and thereafter guided by the branching claw 7 which is rotating to the position for guiding to the selected discharge path side, and the straight paper is discharged. The paper is discharged to either the paper discharge tray 27 of the paper unit 5, the in-body paper discharge unit 6, or the additional paper discharge tray 47. Then, the surface of the photoconductor 4 is cleaned by the cleaning unit 12 after the paper P is separated, and the residual toner is removed.

In the copying machine, as described with reference to FIG. 3, the movable guide plate 4 is provided at the branch portion 40 of the in-body sheet discharge passage 19.
3 is rotatably supported, and its movable guide plate 43 is always supported by the biasing force of a torsion spring 44 (FIG. 4).
Since the paper P in 9 is urged to rotate to the position for guiding the paper P to the paper discharge roller 20 side, the paper P conveyed in the in-body paper discharge passage 19 is reliably discharged by the paper discharge roller 20 in the cylinder. It is discharged onto the part 6.

When the sheet P is discharged onto the additional sheet discharge tray 47, when the solenoid 50 is operated (ON), the operation piece 46 fixed to the movable guide plate 43 via the shaft 45 is Since it is pushed in the direction of arrow A against the biasing force of the torsion spring 44 shown in FIG. 4, the movable guide plate 43 switches to the position shown by the phantom line in FIG. Therefore,
The sheet P in the in-body discharge path 19 is guided by the movable guide plate 43 to the branch discharge path 41 and discharged onto the additional discharge tray 47 in the cylinder.

As described above, in this copying machine, even when the paper P is selectively discharged to the in-body discharge section 6 in the apparatus main body 1 and the additional discharge tray 47, the discharge direction of the discharge roller 20 is set. Since it is not necessary to newly add the paper branching unit 71 as described with reference to FIG. 8 to the downstream side, the paper discharge space (length in the paper discharge direction) of the in-body paper discharge unit 6 in FIG. 1 is narrowed. There is nothing. Therefore, even a large size sheet can be selectively discharged to the in-body discharge section 6 and the additional discharge tray 47.

For a user who does not need such an additional paper discharge tray 47, if the additional paper discharge tray 47 and the solenoid 50 are removed from the components from the beginning, the cost of the user is reduced accordingly. While reducing the burden of
The movable guide plate 43 functions as a mere guide plate, so that the sheet P in the in-body discharge path 19 can be reliably discharged to the in-body discharge section 6.

[0034]

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the movable guide plate in the inside of the in-body sheet discharge passage is urged by the urging force of the urging member in a normal state in which no external force is applied to the movable guide plate. It is urged to rotate so that the paper is always ejected to the in-body ejection section via the ejection rollers, and simply functions as a guide plate that guides the sheet to the in-body ejection section and resists the urging force. Functioning as a switching claw that guides the paper in the in-body discharge path to the branch discharge path when rotated.

Therefore, it is possible to selectively discharge the paper to a plurality of in-body paper discharge parts without newly adding a paper branch portion on the downstream side of the paper discharge roller in the paper discharge direction. Since the discharge space of the in-body discharge unit is not narrowed, even if the in-body discharge type image forming apparatus has such a discharge unit inside the apparatus body, It is possible to selectively eject even large-sized paper to a plurality of in-body paper ejection units without increasing the size of the paper.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a copying machine which is an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the vicinity of a branch claw that also switches the discharge path of the copying machine.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the vicinity of a branch portion to two in-body sheet discharge portions provided in the copying machine.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a movable guide plate 43 which is also provided at a branch portion thereof.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing an example of a copying machine in which a discharge tray is provided on a side portion of a conventional apparatus main body in a protruding state.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing an example of a copying machine in which an in-body discharge unit is provided above an image forming unit in a conventional apparatus main body.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram for explaining a problem when an additional device such as a sorter is attached to the copying machine of the type shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a view for explaining a problem in the case where an additional paper ejection tray is attached to the upper part of the in-body paper ejection unit in the copying machine of the type shown in FIG. 6 so that paper can be selectively ejected to a plurality of paper ejection units. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Device body 2: Imaging unit 6: In-body ejection section 19: In-body ejection path 20: Paper ejection roller 40: Branching part 41: Branch discharge path 43: Movable guide plate 44: torsion spring (biasing member) 45: shaft (intermediate member) 46: Operation piece 47: Additional output tray 50: Solenoid (movable guide plate drive means) P: Paper

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 29/60 B41J 13/00 B41J 13/10 G03G 15/00 530

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A reading unit for reading an image of an original, and the reading unit
Documents that are read by the scanning unit
An image forming unit for forming an image on a sheet, the reading unit and the image forming unit
Paper provided between the image forming unit and the image forming unit
The in-body discharge section for stacking sheets and the in-body discharge section are formed.
Device body that supports the reading unit above the image forming unit
And a part provided with the support part on which an image is formed
An in-body discharge path for guiding the paper to the in-body discharge section
In the image forming apparatus provided with the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus is installed between the reading unit and the image forming unit with respect to the apparatus body.
Additional output tray that can be removed and the support
Image is formed by branching from the in-body discharge path.
Branch for guiding the stored paper to the additional paper output tray
An image forming apparatus having a paper discharge passage . 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
Provided in the support portion, in the branch portion of the branch discharge passage ,
Said sheet conveyed the internal discharge passage in the discharge direction cylinder
Inner sheet discharging first position and the branch sheet discharging a second pivotally supported is to a position to guide the passage side of the guiding in the direction along the path
And is always rotated to the first position by the urging force of the urging member.
A biased movable guide plate and the support portion
Cut the movable guide plate from the first position to the second position.
Movable guide plate drive hand detachable from the main unit
An image forming apparatus characterized by comprising a stage.