JP3620543B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printer, a facsimile, a copying machine, and other image forming apparatuses that record an image on a sheet-like recording medium such as a sheet cut into a predetermined size, and in particular, sets and displays a sheet size to be used. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a paper size setting device.

  Various types of image forming apparatuses such as printers, facsimiles, and copiers are used. Most of these image forming apparatuses are in the form of sheets such as paper cut to a predetermined size. An image such as characters and drawings is formed on a recording medium. Sheets and the like on which images are formed are generally stacked and stored in a sheet feeding device provided in the image forming apparatus, and are sequentially supplied one by one from the sheet feeding device.

  The paper stored in the paper feeder needs to be replenished as appropriate, and a cassette-type paper tray that is detachably attached to the apparatus body is used so that this replenishment can be easily performed. The cassette type paper tray is supplied with paper or the like and stored. Although there is only one cassette-type paper tray provided in one image forming apparatus, in general, an image of an arbitrary size is selected from a plurality of types of paper having different sizes. Many of them have two or more cassette-type paper trays so that they can be added, and one of them is a manual feed tray that is convenient for arbitrarily using various sizes and types of paper. is there.

  In an image forming apparatus equipped with such a paper feeding device, a paper size setting device for setting and displaying the paper size to be used is usually provided on the front side of the device where the paper feeding device is installed. The paper size to be set is set and the current paper size can be displayed. As such a paper size setting device, conventionally, the following two methods are generally employed.

(1) As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a substrate 102 is installed facing the front cover 101 of the apparatus main body 100, and a sheet size indicator attached to the rotary shaft 103 of the rotary switch provided on the substrate 102. The knob 104 is picked and turned with a finger, and the size is set using the size display label 105 or the like attached around the knob 104 as a mark.
(2) By turning a setting dial provided on the cassette type paper tray side of the paper feeding device, the position of the setting dial is detected by a detection mechanism provided on the front surface of the main body of the device (patent) Reference 1 and Patent Reference 2).

  However, the above-described conventional paper size setting device has the following problems. In the case of the former method, when turning the knob 104, it is necessary to pick and turn with two or more fingers, so it is difficult for a person with weak gripping force to perform the size setting operation. Installation space and its mounting members are necessary. In order to install these on the front surface of the apparatus main body 100, there is a positional restriction. The knob 104 protrudes and the size display label 105 is pasted. There was a problem such as bad.

  In the case of the latter method, it is necessary to provide a mechanism for setting the size on both the cassette type paper tray side and the apparatus main body side of the paper feeding device, and a mechanism such as a detection mechanism and a sensor unit. The problem is that it tends to be complicated, is subject to large space restrictions, increases the number of parts and its assembly cost due to the increased number of parts, and there are many intervening parts, and detection errors are likely to occur due to variations in the parts system. was there.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-100198 JP-A-10-109762

  The present invention has been made in order to cope with the above problems, and the first problem is that it can be easily operated with one finger compared to the conventional one in which a knob is pinched and rotated. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a paper size setting device that facilitates the operation, simplifies the configuration by reducing the number of components, and reduces the cost of assembling the components. Another object of the present invention is to obtain a paper size setting device which can be installed in a dead space by reducing the front surface area and reducing the thickness, thereby relaxing the restriction on the installation position.

  A further problem of the present invention is to reduce the space occupied by the paper size setting device on the front surface of the device, thereby reducing the restriction on the installation position of the paper size setting device in the vicinity of the paper feeding device installation portion on the front surface of the device. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of increasing the degree of freedom. Another object of the present invention is to obtain an image forming apparatus that makes it easy to check the setting and the display in a one-to-one correspondence, and can improve the design in the vicinity of the paper size setting device on the front surface of the device. .

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is provided in an image forming apparatus provided with a paper size setting device that is mounted on a rotary switch provided on a substrate and sets and displays a paper size to be used. Attach a paper size setting dial that has a cylindrical dial operation part and a cylindrical paper size indicator part on the rotary shaft of the rotary switch, and display various paper sizes on the cylindrical outer peripheral surface of the paper size indicator part. The dial operation unit is provided at the corner of the front surface of the apparatus main body to which the apparatus for supplying paper is mounted and in the vicinity of the apparatus for supplying paper. It is characterized by being substantially parallel to the mounting direction.

  According to this configuration, the paper size setting device can be configured by mounting the paper size setting dial formed with the dial operation unit and the paper size indicator unit on the rotary shaft of the rotary switch provided on the substrate. The configuration of the paper size setting device can be simplified, and the diameter of the cylindrical dial operation portion can be increased, so that it can be easily rotated and operated with one finger. In addition, since the operation unit for setting the paper size and the size display are in one-to-one correspondence, the size setting and the size display can be easily confirmed. In addition, the front area of the paper size setting device can be reduced, and the paper size setting device can be installed at the front position of the main body of the device, which has been a dead space in the past. become able to.

  As described in detail above, according to the paper size setting device and the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, it is easier to set the paper size and confirm the size display than the conventional one, and it is easy with one finger. Therefore, the operability of the paper size setting device can be greatly improved. In addition, since the paper size setting device can be configured with a small number of parts, the configuration can be simplified, and the cost can be reduced by reducing the cost of parts and their assembly.

  In addition, by reducing the front area of the paper size setting device and making it thinner, the paper size setting device can be installed in the front part, which has been a dead space in the image forming apparatus, so the restrictions on the installation position are eased. The degree of freedom can be increased, and the paper size setting device is covered with the front cover, and only a part of the dial operation part protrudes and the size display can be visually checked. The appearance design can be made good.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a state in which a cover is removed when viewed from the front side, and FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the paper size setting device, FIG. 5 is a plan view of the paper size setting device (A), a front view (B) in a state where it is covered with a front cover of the image forming apparatus, and It is the side view (C).

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus according to this embodiment includes an image carrier 1 that forms an electrostatic latent image on the surface by irradiating image light after being uniformly charged, and an image carrier 1. A charging device 2 that uniformly charges the surface, an image writing device 3 that irradiates the image carrier 1 with image light based on image data and forms a latent image due to a difference in electrostatic potential, and toner on the latent image A developing device 4 for selectively transferring and visualizing, a transfer device 5 for transferring a toner image on the surface of the image carrier 1 to a recording paper supplied along a paper conveyance path 8, and heating the toner image on the recording paper A fixing device 6 for pressurizing and fusing, and a cleaning device 7 for cleaning the toner remaining on the image carrier 1 after the toner image is transferred.

  Further, in the lower part of the image forming apparatus, recording paper is stored, and a paper feeding device 9 that feeds the recording paper one by one, and a toner image transfer device 5 that feeds the paper fed from the paper feeding device 9 at a predetermined timing. A resist roll 10 is provided for transporting to the center. The image carrier 1 has a photoreceptor layer on the surface, and the potential of the exposed portion is attenuated by exposure after being uniformly charged.

  The charging device 2 is a roll-shaped member that comes into contact with the image carrier 1, and by applying a voltage between them, a discharge is generated in a minute gap near the contact portion, and the surface of the image carrier 1 is moved. It is charged almost uniformly. In addition to the above-described charging device 2, a device that applies a high voltage to the electrode wire and charges the image carrier 1 by corona discharge can be used.

  The image writing device 3 scans the blinking laser around the image carrier 1 and forms an electrostatic latent image based on the image data on the peripheral surface of the image carrier 1. The image writing device 3 may be a device in which light emitting elements such as LEDs are arranged and blinked based on the image data.

  The developing device 4 has a cylindrical developing roll 4a disposed so as to face the image carrier 1 in close proximity, and a developing bias voltage is applied between the developing roll 4a and the image carrier 1, thereby A developing bias electric field is formed between the developing roll 4a and the image carrier 1, and the charged toner is transferred to the exposed portion on the image carrier 1 to form a visible image.

  The transfer device 5 is a roll-shaped member provided so as to face the image carrier 1, and forms a transfer electric field between the image carrier 1 and the toner image on the passing recording paper. Is to be transferred.

  The paper feeding device 9 includes two paper trays 11 and 12 arranged on the upper and lower sides, a first paper feeding roll 13 and a second paper feeding roll 14 for feeding paper from the upper or lower paper trays 11 and 12, The sheet feeding rolls 13 and 14 are pressed against the sheet feeding rollers 13 and 14, and the holders 17 and 18 are rotatably attached to the sheet trays 11 and 12 and support the sheeting rolls 15 and 16.

  Of the paper trays 11 and 12, the paper tray 12 disposed on the lower side is configured to be detachable from the main body of the image forming apparatus in a cassette manner, and is in a direction opposite to the direction in which the paper is fed out (right direction in the drawing). It can be pulled out. Further, the upper paper tray 11 is a manual feed tray, and a paper of an arbitrary size can be easily inserted and used from the side of the image forming apparatus.

  The first and second paper feed rolls 13 and 14 are half-moon rolls with a part of the periphery cut out, and the periphery comes into contact with the upper surface of the paper in the paper trays 11 and 12 by being driven to rotate. Are sequentially sent out. Further, the first and second paper feed rolls 13 and 14 are always in contact with the separating members 15 and 16, and when two or more sheets fed out by these paper feed rolls 13 and 14 overlap, The lower sheet is separated and prevented from following the upper sheet.

  The separating members 15 and 16 that are in contact with the paper feed rolls 13 and 14 are made of a material having a large friction with the paper, and a frictional force larger than the frictional force between the papers when the papers overlap. The lower sheet is prevented from traveling so that only the upper sheet is conveyed, and is supported by holders 17 and 18 rotatably attached to the sheet trays 11 and 12, and springs or the like. The elastic member is urged to abut against the paper feed rolls 13 and 14.

  Further, the holder 18 attached to the lower paper tray 12 and the separating member 16 supported by the holder 18 move together with the second paper feed roll 14 when the paper tray 12 is pulled out for paper supply or the like. A retracting mechanism configured so as not to interfere is attached.

  On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus having the above-described configuration, a paper size setting device 20 for setting the size of the paper to be used and displaying the size is provided close to the paper feeding device 9 as shown in FIG. It is installed at the corner of the front surface of the main body 31. The paper size setting device 20 is attached to a front cover 32 which is the side of the same apparatus main body 31 as the side on which the paper supply device 9 is installed when facing the main body 31 of the image forming apparatus for normal operation. It is common to be provided.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the paper size setting device 20 according to the present embodiment is a substrate for setting paper size in a plane parallel to the side frame 33 of the apparatus main body 31 having a side frame structure and at a position close to the front cover 32. 21 is installed, and the rotary shaft 22 of the rotary switch provided on the substrate 21 protrudes substantially perpendicularly from the substrate 21, and the paper size setting dial 23 is mounted on the rotary shaft 22 of the rotary switch as shown in FIG. It is composed by doing.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the paper size setting dial 23 is formed by providing a large-diameter cylindrical dial operation unit 24 and a cylindrical paper size indicator unit 25 with stepped portions. 22 is fitted directly or via an intermediate bush 26. Further, the cylindrical outer peripheral surface of the dial operation unit 24 in the paper size setting dial 23 is subjected to knurling 28 for preventing slippage during operation, and various papers are provided on the cylindrical outer peripheral surface of the paper size indicator unit 25. Size display 29 (printing such as A4 and A3 indicating the paper size) is provided.

  The rotary shaft 22 or the intermediate bush 26 is provided with a cut surface 27 so that the rotational force is transmitted to the rotary switch when the paper size setting dial 23 is rotated, and the rotary shaft 22 is cantilevered. Because of the structure, the support strength is increased by supporting the shaft tip with the support bracket 30 provided on the side frame 33 side.

  As described above, the substrate 21 of the paper size setting device 20 is provided in a plane substantially parallel to the side frame 33 that forms an angle of 90 degrees with the front surface of the apparatus main body 31, that is, substantially parallel to the direction in which the paper feeding device 9 is mounted. As a result, the front area of the paper size setting device 20 can be reduced, and the paper size setting device 20 can be installed at the front position of the device main body 31 that has conventionally been a dead space. Can be relaxed. In addition, since a paper size setting dial 23 having a cylindrical shape is attached to the rotary shaft 22 of the rotary switch projecting vertically from the substrate 21, the cylindrical outer peripheral surface thereof is substantially parallel to the front surface of the apparatus main body 31. Will form.

  Therefore, the paper size setting device 20 is installed close to the front cover 32 of the apparatus main body 31, and the opening 34 and the cutout window 35 are provided in the front cover 32 corresponding to the installation position of the paper size setting device 20. The paper size setting device 20 is covered with the front cover 32 by projecting a part of the dial operation portion 24 of the paper size setting dial 23 from the opening 34 and providing the paper size indicator portion 25 facing the cutout window 35. And it can be operated from the outside and can be installed facing the front cover 32 side of the apparatus main body 31 so that the size display can be seen.

  Since the substrate 21 of the paper size setting device 20 is provided in the same plane as the main control substrate 36 installed on one side of the image forming apparatus, the storage area of the control system in the entire apparatus is increased. It is possible to reduce the size, and it is possible to reduce the size by effectively utilizing the space, and it is possible to facilitate the routing of the harness 37 connected to the substrate 21.

  Therefore, according to the paper size setting device and the image forming apparatus, the paper size setting device 20 including the substrate 21 is installed in parallel to the side surface when facing the apparatus main body 31 for operation. Therefore, the front area of the paper size setting device 20 can be narrowed and thinned. Then, by installing the thinned paper size setting device 20 on the side surface of the side frame 33 that has been a dead space in the past, the space utilization is improved and the paper size setting device 20 is installed on the front cover 32. Positional constraints can be relaxed and the degree of freedom can be increased.

  Further, since the paper size setting device 20 can be operated by turning the large diameter dial operation unit 24 and the torque required to turn the dial operation unit 24 is reduced, it can be easily operated with one finger. Since the operation can be simplified and facilitated, the number of components is reduced, and the configuration and assembling property are simplified. Therefore, the cost can be reduced while suppressing the components and the assembly cost. In addition, since the knurling process 28 is given to the outer periphery of the dial operation part 24, a slip can be prevented and operativity can be improved.

  Further, if the dial operation unit 24 and the paper size indicator unit 25 are integrally formed on the paper size setting dial 23, the paper size setting operation and the size display can be made to correspond one-to-one. It is easy to check the display, and the operability of the paper size setting device 20 can be improved.

  In addition, an opening 34 and a notch window 35 are provided in the front cover 32 so that a part of the dial operation part 24 can be operated by projecting from the opening 34, and the size display of the paper size indicator part 25 is displayed from the notch window 35. 29 can be visually confirmed, the surface of the front cover 32 around the paper size setting device 20 can be neatly organized, and the design of the portion can be improved.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from the front side with a cover removed. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as seen from the front side. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a paper size setting device in an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a plan view (A) of the paper size setting device shown in FIG. 4, a front view (B) in a state where it is covered with a front cover of the image forming apparatus, and a side view (C) thereof. FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a conventional image forming apparatus viewed from the front side. FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of a paper size setting device in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 6.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20 ... Paper size setting apparatus, 21 ... Board | substrate, 22 ... Rotary shaft of rotary switch, 23 ... Paper size setting dial, 24 ... Dial operation part, 25 ... Paper size indicator part, 28 ... Knurling process, 29 ... Size display, 31 ... Device body 32 ... Front cover 33 ... Side frame 34 ... Opening 35 ... Notched window 36 ... Main control board

Claims (1)

In an image forming apparatus equipped with a paper size setting device that is mounted on a rotary switch provided on a substrate and sets and displays a paper size to be used.
A paper size setting dial formed with a cylindrical dial operation part and a cylindrical paper size indicator part is mounted on the rotary shaft of the rotary switch provided on the substrate, and
Various sizes of paper are displayed on the cylindrical outer peripheral surface of the paper size indicator section,
The dial operation unit is provided at a corner on the front surface of the apparatus main body to which a device for supplying paper is mounted, in the vicinity of the device for supplying paper, and a device for supplying the paper according to the direction of arrangement of the substrate. An image forming apparatus, characterized in that the image forming apparatus is substantially parallel to a direction in which the is mounted.

Images