JP3647764B2 - Recording material processing apparatus and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a recording material processing apparatus that is disposed adjacent to an image forming apparatus main body and is used for, for example, punching or stapling a recording material, and feeding a recording material to an image forming apparatus, and The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile provided with the same.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As a recording material processing apparatus installed adjacent to an image forming apparatus main body such as a copying machine or a printer, for example, a finisher (post-processing apparatus) that performs punching or stapling on a recording material after image formation, or an image forming apparatus 2. Description of the Related Art A paper feed deck (recording material paper feeding device) that can store recording material to be supplied in a large capacity is known.
[0003]
The finisher has a facing surface that faces one side surface of the image forming apparatus main body. The recording material on which image formation has been completed is discharged from a pair of paper discharge rollers provided on one side surface of the image forming apparatus main body, and is carried from a carry-in port provided on the opposite surface of the finisher. Therefore, when the height positions of the discharge roller pair and the carry-in port do not coincide with each other with high accuracy, the recording material is not smoothly delivered from the image forming apparatus main body to the finisher. There was a risk of paper jams.
[0004]
For this reason, conventionally, the adjustment bolts are screwed into the four corners of the bottom of the finisher and the paper feed deck from below, and the projecting lengths of the four adjustment bolts from the bottom are adjusted, so that the finisher and the paper feed deck are adjusted. The whole height was adjusted. There may be two adjustment bolts.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, when the height adjustment is performed with four or two adjustment bolts as in the above-described conventional example, the height adjustment is not performed until the projection lengths of the adjustment bolts are all suitable. When there is an adjustment bolt whose protrusion length is not appropriate even with one, it is impossible to adjust the height with high accuracy. In an extreme case, one of the four is lifted from the floor and the finisher or the entire paper feed deck is shaken. Thus, it is difficult to adjust the height with high accuracy by adjusting the protruding lengths of the four or two adjusting bolts, and the adjustment work becomes complicated.
[0006]
In particular, for example, when a carpet with long hairs is laid on the floor surface, the adjustment bolt gradually sinks into the carpet, so that it is necessary to frequently adjust the height, which further increases the complexity.
[0007]
SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a recording material processing apparatus that can easily perform height adjustment and can perform height adjustment with high precision, and an image forming apparatus including the recording material processing apparatus.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A first aspect of the present invention relates to a recording material processing apparatus installed adjacent to an image forming apparatus main body installed on a floor surface and having a facing surface facing one side surface of the image forming apparatus main body. The recording material processing apparatus according to the present invention supports the recording material processing apparatus main body from below, and includes first, second, and third support members that respectively form grounding points with the floor surface. Have The first and second support members are disposed on the side far from the facing surface, the third support member is disposed on the side near the facing surface, and the center of gravity of the recording material processing apparatus main body has three grounding points. The first, second, and third support members are disposed so as to be positioned above the area of the connecting triangle, and the third support member is supported by the recording material processing apparatus main body so that the height position can be adjusted. The height adjustment member for adjusting the height position of the third support member is provided. . And the 1st, 2nd, 3rd support member is comprised by the rotatable roller-shaped member. The recording material processing apparatus of the present invention is supported by an input / output member that can enter and exit from the opposing surface of the recording material processing apparatus toward one side surface of the main body of the image forming apparatus, and can swing substantially vertically by the input / output member. And an arm member that rotatably supports the third support member. The height adjustment member is an adjustment screw member that is screwed into the access member from above and makes the tip end abut against the arm member. It is characterized by that.
[0009]
According to the present invention having such a configuration, the recording material processing apparatus main body can be adjusted to the first and second support members by adjusting the height of the third support member relative to the recording material processing apparatus main body by the height adjustment member. The height of the facing surface can be adjusted around the ground contact point. That is, it is possible to adjust the height position of the facing surface with respect to one side surface of the image forming apparatus main body only by adjusting the third support member. Further, since the center of gravity of the recording material processing apparatus main body is located above the region in the triangle connecting the three ground points, there is no possibility that the balance of the recording material processing apparatus main body is lost and tilted during height adjustment.
[0011]
According to the present invention having such a configuration, since the first, second, and third support members are formed in a rotatable roller shape, when adjusting the height by the height adjustment member, for example, a recording material When an unnecessary horizontal force is applied to the processing apparatus, the force can be released by rotating these support members. For this reason, the height adjustment work becomes smooth.
[0013]
According to the present invention having such a configuration, for example, the height adjustment member can be moved to the outside of the recording material processing apparatus main body by pulling out the entrance / exit member, and further, the height adjustment member is located above the entrance / exit member. Therefore, the adjustment screw member can be handled from above at the time of height adjustment, and the height adjustment work can be facilitated. Further, since the third support member is attached to the entrance / exit member via a swingable arm member, and the height adjustment is performed via this arm member, the height adjustment is performed with a relatively small force. be able to.
[0014]
Claim 2 The image forming apparatus main body for forming an image on a recording material and the recording material or the image forming apparatus main body which is installed adjacent to the image forming apparatus main body and image-formed by the image forming apparatus main body. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a recording material processing apparatus that performs processing on a recording material before recording. In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the recording material processing apparatus is 1 of the invention It is a recording material processing apparatus.
[0015]
According to the present invention having such a configuration, the above-described recording material processing apparatus can have the operational effects as the entire image forming apparatus.
[0016]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0017]
FIG. 1 shows an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section schematically showing a schematic configuration of the image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes an image forming apparatus main body 11 and a recording material processing apparatus 12 according to the present invention. As will be described in detail later, the recording material processing apparatus 12 is installed adjacent to the image forming apparatus main body 11 so that the height position relative to the image forming apparatus main body 11 can be adjusted easily and accurately. It is configured to be able to. In the present embodiment, an electrophotographic type image forming apparatus 10 will be described, and a finisher (post-processing apparatus) having a punch processing unit and a stapler will be described as the recording material processing apparatus 12, respectively. The image forming apparatus and the recording material processing apparatus according to the present invention are not limited to these.
[0018]
Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the image forming apparatus main body 11, the configuration and operation of the recording material processing apparatus 12, and finally the configuration and operation for adjusting the height of the recording material processing apparatus will be described.
[0019]
<Configuration and Operation of Image Forming Apparatus Main Body>
An image forming apparatus main body 11 illustrated in FIG. 1 is an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, and includes an image forming unit 13, a recording material P feeding / conveying unit 14, and a fixing unit 15.
[0020]
Among these, the image forming unit 13 includes a photosensitive drum 16 that is rotationally driven in the direction of an arrow a, and a primary charger 17, an exposure device 18, a developing device 20, and the like arranged around the photosensitive drum 16 in the rotation direction. A transfer charger 21 and a cleaning device 22 are provided. The photosensitive drum 16 is formed by providing a photosensitive layer of, for example, OPC (organic optical semiconductor) on the outer peripheral surface of a drum-shaped conductive substrate, and is driven in a direction indicated by an arrow a by a driving unit (not shown). It is driven to rotate at the process speed (circumferential speed). The primary charger 17 uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 16 to a predetermined polarity and potential by applying a charging bias to the charging roller (not shown) arranged in contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum and a charging bias. And a charging bias application power source (not shown). The exposure device 18 exposes the charged surface of the photosensitive drum in accordance with image information, and removes the charge of the exposed portion to form an electrostatic latent image. The exposure device 18 is a laser scanner, polygon mirror, lens, reflection It has a mirror (both not shown). The developing device 20 includes a developing container (not shown) containing a developer (toner), a developing roller (not shown) that carries the toner in the developing container on the surface and transports it to the developing unit, and the developing unit A developing bias applying power source (not shown) for applying a developing bias to the roller to cause the toner to adhere to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 16 and developing it as a toner image; The transfer charger 21 is disposed so as to face the photosensitive drum 16 described above, and forms a transfer portion between the transfer charger 21 and the photosensitive drum 16. A recording bias P is applied to a transfer charger 21 by a transfer bias application power source (not shown) to a recording material P such as paper supplied from a feeding / conveying section 14 to be described later to the photosensitive drum 16. The upper toner image is electrostatically transferred. The cleaning device 22 has a cleaning blade (not shown) for removing the toner (residual toner) that is not transferred to the recording material P during transfer and remains on the surface of the photosensitive drum 16.
[0021]
The feeding / conveying unit 14 sequentially feeds the recording material P in the conveyance direction of the recording material P from the upstream side in the conveyance direction of the recording material P, the paper feeding cassette 23, the paper feeding roller 24, the conveyance roller pair 25, the registration roller pair 26, and the paper discharge roller pair 27. have. The paper feed cassette 23 stores a large number of recording materials P on which toner images are formed. The paper feed roller 24 feeds the recording material P in the paper feed cassette 23 one by one, and the transport roller pair 25 transports the fed recording material P toward the registration roller pair 26. Is. The registration roller pair 26 temporarily stops the recording material P conveyed by the conveying roller pair 25, and then transfers the recording material P so that the timing coincides with the toner image on the photosensitive drum 16 described above. It supplies to the part. The paper discharge roller pair 27 is disposed on an upper portion of the left side wall (one side surface) 11a of the image forming apparatus main body 11, and forms a recording material P having a toner image fixed on the surface thereof by a fixing unit 15 described later. It is discharged to the left outside the apparatus main body 11.
[0022]
The fixing unit 15 includes a fixing roller 28 having a heater built therein, and a pressure roller 30 that is pressed by the fixing roller 28 to form a fixing nip portion. In the image forming unit 13 described above, the recording material P having the toner image transferred onto the surface is heated and pressed while being nipped and conveyed by the fixing nip portion, so that the toner image is fused and fixed on the surface. It has become.
[0023]
In the image forming apparatus main body 11 having such a configuration, that is, the image forming apparatus main body 11 provided with the image forming unit 13, the feeding / conveying unit 14, and the fixing unit 15 as described above, A toner image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 16 by primary charging, exposure, and development. On the other hand, the recording material P is supplied from the paper feed cassette 23 to the transfer section in synchronization with the toner image on the photosensitive drum 16 by the paper feed roller 24, the transport roller pair 25, and the registration roller pair 26. Then, the toner image on the photosensitive drum 16 is transferred to the supplied recording material P by the transfer charger 21. After the toner image is transferred, the toner image is fixed on the surface of the recording material P by the fixing unit 15, and then discharged to the outside of the image forming apparatus main body 11 by the paper discharge roller pair 27. Thereby, the image formation by the image forming apparatus main body 11 is completed.
[0024]
In the present embodiment, the recording material P discharged to the outside of the image forming apparatus main body 11 by the paper discharge roller pair 27 is supplied to the recording material processing apparatus 12 as described later.
[0025]
The above-described image forming apparatus main body 11 has an outer shape formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and is supported by four legs 31 (however, only two are shown in FIG. 1). The four leg portions 31 are respectively attached to four corners of the bottom surface (lower surface) 32 of the main body frame of the image forming apparatus main body 11. The leg portions 31 include, for example, a screw member 31a (see FIG. 2) screwed into the main body frame from below and a lock member 31b that locks the screw member 31a. The entire image forming apparatus main body 11 is kept horizontal by being locked by the lock member 31b with the amount of protrusion from the bottom surface 32 adjusted appropriately.
[0026]
<Configuration and operation of recording material processing apparatus>
The recording material processing apparatus 12 shown in FIG. 1 performs punching (punching) or stapling on the recording material P, and after an image (toner image) is formed by the image forming apparatus main body 11 described above. This is a so-called finisher that performs these processes on the recording material P. Hereinafter, the finisher 12 is used instead of the recording material processing apparatus 12.
[0027]
As shown in FIG. 2 (enlarged view of the finisher 12 in FIG. 1), the finisher 12 includes a rectangular parallelepiped housing 33. On the upper side of the right side wall (opposite surface facing the left side wall 11a of the image forming apparatus main body 11) 33a in the housing 33, the recording material P is carried in at a position corresponding to the paper discharge roller pair 27 on the image forming apparatus main body 11 side. 34 is provided. In the right side wall 33a, a portion having an upper carry-in port 34 protrudes to the right, and a space R is formed below the protruding portion. The carry-in entrance 34 is formed by a pair of upper and lower guide plates, and this guide plate pair is arranged so that the entrance side is wider and narrower toward the downstream side (downstream side along the recording material conveyance direction). Yes. On the downstream side of the carry-in port 34, punch processing means (post-processing means) 35 for drilling the recording material P is disposed. Further, a decurler unit 38 including two pairs of decurling rollers 36 and 37 for correcting curling (curving) of the recording material P is disposed on the downstream side of the punch processing unit 35.
[0028]
A transport roller pair 40 is disposed on the downstream side of the decurler unit 38. A branch portion is provided immediately downstream of the pair of transport rollers 40, and a first transport path 41 extending upward and a second transport path 42 extending downward are branched at the branch portion. A flapper 43 that is switched by a solenoid (not shown) is disposed at the branch portion. The flapper 43 is located between a first position for guiding the recording material P to the first transport path 41 side and a second position for guiding the recording material P to the second transport path 42 side in response to the on / off state of the solenoid. Can be switched with.
[0029]
The first transport path 41 is formed to extend obliquely upward from the branch portion, and a pair of paper discharge rollers 44 is disposed on the most downstream side. A first paper discharge tray 45 that supports the recording material P discharged from the paper discharge roller pair 44 from below is disposed on the downstream side of the paper discharge roller pair 44. On the first paper discharge tray 45, after the image formation, both the recording material P that has been punched by the punch processing unit 35 and the recording material P that has not been punched are discharged. Will be. That is, the recording material P that is not stapled is discharged regardless of the presence or absence of drilling. At least one of the rollers described above, that is, the decurling roller pairs 36 and 27, the conveying roller pair 40, and the paper discharge roller pair 44 is rotationally driven by a driving means (not shown).
[0030]
The second conveyance path 42 is extended along the recording material support 46 after branching downward from the branching portion with respect to the first conveyance path 41 described above. In the second conveyance path 42, four carry-in roller pairs 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d are arranged in order from the upstream side (in order from the top), and further three flappers 48a that can swing between them are arranged. , 48b, 48c are arranged. These are appropriately selected according to the transport direction length of the recording material P used for image formation. Here, with respect to the positions of the flappers 48a, 48b and 48c, the position where the recording material P is conveyed further downstream of the second conveyance path 42 than the respective flappers is the open position (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 2). On the other hand, the position at which the recording material P is carried into the recording material receiving base 46 by each flapper is determined as the closed position (the position of the broken line in FIG. 2). Further, four types of recording materials P1 to P4 having different lengths in the conveyance direction are used as the recording material P used for image formation. The recording material P1 is a JIS A3 size through (conveyance direction length 420 mm), the recording material P2 is a B4 size through (conveyance direction length 362 mm), and the recording material P3 is A4. It is assumed that the size is horizontal (conveyance direction length 297 mm) and the recording material P4 is A4 size longitudinal (conveyance direction length 210 mm). That is, the length in the transport direction (hereinafter referred to as “length” as appropriate) is P1>P2>P3> P4.
[0031]
When the recording material P transported to the second transport path 42 is the recording material P1 having the longest length, the uppermost stream side (uppermost portion) flapper 48a is disposed at the closed position, and the carry-in roller The pair 47a is driven to rotate, and the recording material P1 is guided onto the recording material receiving base 46 by the flapper 48a. Similarly, in the case of the recording material P2 having the second longest length, the flapper 48a is disposed in the open position, the flapper 48b is disposed in the closed position, and the pair of carry-in rollers 47a and 47b are rotationally driven to move the recording material P2 by the flapper 48b. Guide to the recording material pedestal 46. Similarly, in the case of the recording material P3 having the third longest length, the flappers 48a and 48b are disposed in the open position, the flapper 48c is disposed in the closed position, and the carry-in roller pairs 47a, 47b and 47c are driven to rotate. Is guided onto the recording material tray 46 by the flapper 48c. Similarly, in the case of the fourth longest (first shortest) recording material P4, all of the flappers 48a, 48b, 48c are arranged in the open position, and all the carry-in roller pairs 47a, 47b, 47c, 48d. Is rotated to guide the recording material P4 along the second conveying path 42 onto the recording material receiving table 46. In this way, the four types of recording materials P1 to P4 having different lengths in the conveyance direction are carried in by being carried onto the recording material receiving base 46 from the second conveyance path 42 by appropriate flappers. It is possible to effectively prevent a problem that the recording material P gets under the recording material P already placed on the recording material receiving base 46, that is, so-called digging.
[0032]
The recording material cradle 46 is a flat plate-like member disposed inclined downward, and a predetermined number of recording materials P sequentially carried in via the second transport path 42 are bundled. As a temporary stock. In the vicinity of the lower end portion of the recording material receiving base 46, a hook-shaped receiving member 50 for receiving the end of the recording material P stocked by the recording material receiving base 46 from below is disposed. The receiving member 50 is fixed to an endless belt 53 that is stretched between a driving pulley 51 disposed near the upper end portion of the recording material receiving base 46 and a driven pulley 52 disposed near the lower end portion of the recording material receiving base 46. Has been. The receiving member 50 moves upward along the recording material receiving base 46 by the counterclockwise rotation in FIG. 2 of the endless belt 53 accompanying the forward rotation of the drive pulley 52, and thereby the recording material receiving base 46. The recording material bundle stocked above can be moved upward. The receiving member 50 returns to the home position shown in FIG. 2 by the clockwise rotation in FIG. 2 of the endless belt 53 accompanying the reverse rotation of the drive pulley 51.
[0033]
The recording material P aligning means 54 is disposed on the back side of the recording material receiving tray 46. The aligning means 54 includes a pair of width adjusting plates 55 facing each other at an appropriate interval in the width direction (direction perpendicular to the conveying direction) of the recording material P stocked on the recording material receiving base 46, and the width adjusting plate 55. A width adjusting mechanism 56 that reciprocates in the width direction of the recording material P in the vicinity of the left and right ends of the recording material P is provided. The width adjusting mechanism 56 can change the reciprocating amount of the width adjusting plate 55 according to the width of the recording material P. Thereby, the width adjusting plate 55 can be brought into contact with and aligned with the left and right ends of the recording materials P having different widths stocked on the recording material receiving base 46.
[0034]
A stapler 57 is disposed in the vicinity of the lower end portion of the recording material receiving tray 46. The stapler 57 receives the end from below by the receiving member 50 and is stocked on the recording material receiving base 46, and further staples the recording material bundle aligned by the aligning means 54 described above.
[0035]
A discharge path 58 for the recording material P extending obliquely upward is disposed above the uppermost portion of the recording material receiving tray 46, and a pair of paper discharge rollers 60 is disposed on the most downstream side of the discharge path 58. Has been. The paper discharge roller pair 60 discharges the recording material bundle carried into the discharge path 58 by the receiving member 50 described above onto the stacking surface 61a of the paper discharge tray 61 on the downstream side.
[0036]
The discharge tray 61 is disposed so as to be movable up and down along a left side wall (surface far from the image forming apparatus main body 11) 33 b of the housing 33 by the lifting means 62. The elevating / lowering means 62 rotates the driving pulley 63 and the driven pulley 64 disposed at the upper end and the lower end of the left side wall 33b, the tray elevating / lowering belt 65 stretched between them, and the driving pulley 63 in the forward and reverse directions. And an electric motor 66. The discharge tray 61 is attached to a tray lifting / lowering belt 65. The discharge tray 61 descends as the drive pulley 63 and the tray elevating belt 65 rotate counterclockwise in the drawing accompanying the forward rotation of the electric motor 66, and conversely, the drive pulley 63 accompanies the reverse rotation of the electric motor 66. The tray elevating belt 65 is raised in the clockwise direction in FIG. Note that a recording material bundle detection sensor (not shown) is disposed in the vicinity of the recording material stacking surface 61a of the paper discharge tray 61 in FIG. The recording material bundle detection sensor is configured such that the height of the recording material stacking surface 61a of the paper discharge tray 61 when the recording material bundle is not stacked, or the uppermost position of the recording material bundle when the recording material bundle is stacked. Is to detect the height position. That is, the above-described electric motor 66 is turned on / off based on the detection result of the recording material bundle sensor, whereby the height position of the recording material stacking surface 61a or the uppermost height position of the recording material bundle is determined. Maintaining constant, the drop height of the recording material bundle discharged from the paper discharge roller pair 60 is always constant, and the recording material bundle is good on the recording material stacking surface 61 or on the recording material bundle already loaded. It is designed to be received with a proper posture.
[0037]
The finisher 12 having the above-described configuration is provided with the presence / absence of punch processing (drilling processing) by the punch processing unit 35 and the stapler on the recording material P image-formed by the image forming apparatus main body 11 as described below. The presence or absence of stapling by 57 can be appropriately selected as necessary.
[0038]
The recording material P on which an image has been formed by the image forming apparatus main body 11 is discharged laterally (leftward) toward the finisher 12 from the paper discharge roller pair 27 on the left side wall 11a. The discharged recording material P is first carried into the carry-in port 34 above the right side wall 33a of the finisher 12. Next, the recording material P that needs to be punched is temporarily stopped and punched by the punch processing unit 35. The lower and upper curls of the recording material P after the punching process are corrected by the decurling roller pairs 36 and 37 of the decurler unit 38. On the other hand, the recording material P that does not require punching is directly transported to the decurler unit 38 without being temporarily stopped, and the lower and upper curls are similarly corrected.
[0039]
The recording material P with the curl corrected in this way is conveyed to the branching portion by the conveying roller pair 40. Here, the recording material P that does not require stapling is transported along the first transport path 41 when the flapper 43 switches the path of the recording material P to the upper first transport path 41 side, and the paper discharge roller The paper is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 45 by the pair 44. On the other hand, for the recording material P that needs to be stapled, the flapper 43 switches the path of the recording material P to the lower second conveyance path 42 side. Thereby, the recording material P is transported along the second transport path 42, is transported from the second transport path 42 onto the recording material support 46, and one end is received by the receiving member 50, Further, it is aligned by the aligning means 54 and temporarily stocked on the recording material receiving tray 46. It should be noted that the carry-in roller pair and the flapper used when the recording material P is carried from the second conveyance path 42 onto the recording material receiving base 46 correspond to the length of the recording material P in the conveyance direction, that is, the recording material. Depending on which of the recording materials P1 to P4 P, an appropriate one as described above is selected from the carry-in rollers 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d and the flappers 48a, 48b, 48c. The recording material P is stocked by the recording material receiving tray 46 until the number of recording materials P reaches a predetermined number to be stapled.
[0040]
When the recording material P on the recording material receiving tray 46 reaches a predetermined number and a desired recording material bundle is formed, the stapler 57 performs stapling.
[0041]
The recording material bundle after the stapling process rotates the driving pulley 51 counterclockwise and rotates the endless belt 53 in the same direction, whereby the receiving member 50 integrated with the endless belt 53 is attached to the recording material receiving base 46. By being raised along, it is moved upward and guided to the discharge path 58. The recording material bundle thus moved along the discharge path 58 is discharged onto the stacking surface 61 a of the discharge tray 61 by the discharge roller pair 60.
[0042]
Thus, the post-processing for the recording material P by the finisher 12 is completed.
[0043]
<Configuration and operation for adjusting height of recording material processing apparatus (finisher)>
As described above, the recording material P on which the image is formed by the image forming apparatus main body 11 is discharged to the left by the discharge roller pair 27 on the left side wall 11a, and enters the carry-in entrance 34 on the upper side of the right side wall 33a of the finisher 12. It is brought in. Therefore, if the accuracy of the height position of the carry-in port 34 with respect to the paper discharge roller pair 27 is not sufficient, a jam (paper jam) or the like may occur, and the recording material P may not be carried in smoothly.
[0044]
Therefore, in the present embodiment, the finisher 12 is provided with a configuration capable of easily and accurately adjusting the height position.
[0045]
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 (enlarged view taken along the line XX in FIG. 2), in the present embodiment, three rollers 71 (first rollers) having the housing 33 of the finisher 12 disposed below the finisher 12 are shown. 1 (supporting member), 72 (second supporting member), and 73 (third supporting member). In the following explanation, 3 Of the four side walls of the housing 33 of the finisher 12. The upper, lower, left, and right in FIG. 3 The side wall located in the lower part is referred to as a front side wall 33c, and the side wall located in the upper part is referred to as a rear side wall 33d.
[0046]
Of the three rollers 71, 72, 73 described above, the roller 71 is disposed on the front side wall 33c side on the left side wall 33b side of the housing 33, and the roller 72 is also disposed on the rear side wall 33d side on the left side wall 33b side. Yes. These rollers 71 and 72 are rotatably supported by a shaft 74 extending forward from a lower portion on the left side wall 33b side of the housing 33 and a shaft 75 extending rearward. On the other hand, the roller 73 is supported at a lower portion of the housing 33 by a frame body (in / out member) 76 that can freely enter and exit the housing 33.
[0047]
A pair of rail members 77 and 78 extending from the right side to the right side of the above-described rollers 71 and 72 are laid on the front side wall 33c side and the rear side wall 33d side at the lower part of the housing 33. These rail members 77 and 78 are formed by channel members having a U-shaped cross section in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction, and the opening portions of the channel members are inward so that the longitudinal direction of the channel members is directed in the left-right direction. It is fixed so as to face.
[0048]
The entire frame 76 is supported by these rail members 77 and 78 so as to be able to enter and exit to the right side of the housing 33 (on the image forming apparatus main body 11 side). That is, the frame body 76 is supported by the rail members 77 and 78 described above so as to be slidable in the left and right directions, and a pair of sliders 80 and 81 that are long in the left and right direction, and a rectangular support plate 82 that connects the sliders 80 and 81. 4 and a connecting plate 79 fixed so as to project upward from the support plate 82 at the right end portion of the support plate 82, as shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram corresponding to the view along the line Y-Y in FIG. 3 shows a view in which the frame body 76 is housed in the housing 33, and FIG. 4 shows a view in which the frame body 76 is pulled out from the housing 33. The connecting plate 79 is formed long in the front-rear direction. For example, through holes (not shown) that are long in the up-down direction are formed on the front side and the rear side. A connecting bolt (not shown) is passed through these through holes, and the further penetrated connecting bolt is screwed into a predetermined position (not shown) on the left side wall 11a of the image forming apparatus main body 11 and tightened. The connecting plate 79 is fixed to the left side wall 11a. Accordingly, the finisher 12 is attached to the image forming apparatus main body 11.
[0049]
A pair of blocks 83a and 83b are fixed to the rear side of the lower surface 82a of the support plate 82 from the center in the front-rear direction, and a shaft 84 directed in the front-rear direction is supported by these blocks 83a and 83b. . The shaft 84 supports the base end portion of the arm member 85 extending in the left-right direction so as to be swingable.
[0050]
The arm member 85 is formed by a member having a U-shaped cross section in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction thereof, and is supported by the above-described shaft 84 in a swingable manner with the opening portion directed downward. . The arm member 85 supports a shaft 86 directed in the front-rear direction at the tip thereof, and the roller 73 of the three rollers 71, 72, 73 is rotatably supported by the shaft 86. Has been.
[0051]
In a state where the frame body 76 is completely accommodated in the housing 33, that is, in the state shown in FIG. 3, the roller 73 is in the vicinity of the right side wall 33 a of the housing 33 and behind the center in the front-rear direction of the housing 33. It is arranged at a biased position. Here, it is assumed that the finisher 12 is installed on the floor surface F as in the case of the image forming apparatus main body 11. At this time, positions where the rollers 71, 72, 73 of the finisher 12 are in contact with the floor F are viewed from the top of the finisher 12 as grounding points S1, S2, S3 in FIG. In the present embodiment, an electric motor (not shown) that is a heavy object, that is, an electric motor for driving each roller in the finisher 12 is arranged at a position biased rearward from the center of the finisher 12 in the front-rear direction. Since it is provided, the center of gravity of the entire finisher 12 is also biased backward. For this reason, in the present embodiment, the roller 73 is arranged at a position where the ground contact point S3 is deviated backward from the center in the front-rear direction. In addition, the center of gravity of the finisher 12 is arranged in a well-balanced manner above a triangular area formed by connecting the three grounding points S1, S2, and S3. Furthermore, it is more preferable that the position in the front-rear direction of the ground contact point S3 is set so as to substantially match the position in the front-rear direction of the center of gravity.
[0052]
A height adjustment bolt (height adjustment member) 87 is screwed into a position corresponding to the position directly above the roller 73 in the support plate 82 of the frame 76 described above. The height adjusting bolt 87 has a tip end portion 87a abutting against the upper portion 85a on the tip end side of the arm member 85 described above. When the head 87b of the height adjusting bolt 87 is screwed from above to increase the screwing amount, the arm member 85 rotates around the base end shaft 84 in the clockwise direction in FIG. . As a result, the frame body 76 and the housing 33 rotate counterclockwise in the drawing around the grounding points S1 and S2 of the rollers 71 and 72, and the housing 33 with respect to the left side wall 11a of the image forming apparatus main body 11. The right side wall 33a is raised. That is, the height position of the carry-in port 34 on the housing 33 side is raised with respect to the height position of the paper discharge roller pair 27 on the image forming apparatus main body 11 side. Conversely, when the screwing amount of the height adjusting bolt 87 is reduced, the height position of the carry-in entrance 34 is lowered with respect to the height position of the paper discharge roller pair 27.
[0053]
In order to install the finisher 21 adjacent to the image forming apparatus main body 11 which has already been installed horizontally on the floor F, the following procedure is performed.
[0054]
First, the frame body 76 of the finisher 12 is in a state of being completely stored in the housing 33. In this state, the finishers 12 are arranged adjacent to the image forming apparatus main body 11 so that the right side wall 33 a of the housing 33 faces the left side wall 11 a of the image forming apparatus main body 11. The frame body 76 is pulled out from the housing 33 to the right. At this time, the portion having the carry-in port 34 on the right side wall 33a of the housing 33 is projected rightward, and a space R is formed below the projected portion, so that the frame 76 is pulled out to the right. The head 87b of the height adjusting bolt 87 can be exposed to the space R. A connecting bolt is passed through the through hole of the connecting plate 79 of the frame 76, and the connecting bolt is screwed to the image forming apparatus main body 11 side to be temporarily fixed. In this temporarily fixed state, the frame body 76 can be easily moved up and down with respect to the image forming apparatus main body 11. Height adjustment is performed in this state. That is, by tightening or loosening the height adjustment bolt 87 from above, as described above, the height of the discharge roller pair 27 on the image forming apparatus main body 11 side of the carry-in entrance 34 on the finisher 12 side is set. The height position is adjusted. At this time, since the head 87b of the height adjustment bolt 87 is exposed to the space R, the adjustment work by the height adjustment bolt 87 becomes easy. In addition, the height adjustment bolt 87 is disposed vertically above the roller 73 having the ground contact point S3, and the height adjustment bolt 87 is adjusted so that the screwing amount or the loosening amount of the height adjustment bolt 87 is almost as it is. Since it corresponds to the amount, it is easy to grasp the height adjustment amount directly. For this reason, height adjustment is easy. Further, unlike the conventional example, the member having the grounding point S3 is a roller 73 formed in a roller shape, and this roller 73 is supported by the frame body 76 via the arm member 85. Height adjustment bolt with small force 87 Can be screwed or loosened.
[0055]
When the height adjustment is completed as described above, the temporarily tightened connecting bolt is tightened to fix the finisher 12 to the image forming apparatus main body 11. Thereby, the installation of the finisher 12 and the height adjustment are finished. After the installation and height adjustment, the upper part of the left side wall 11a of the image forming apparatus main body 11 and the upper part of the right side surface 33a of the finisher 12 may be connected by, for example, a hook (not shown) that can be easily engaged and disengaged. Good.
[0056]
For example, when a carpet with long hairs is laid on the floor F, even if the height position of the finisher 12 is accurately adjusted during installation, the height position is likely to change thereafter. According to the present embodiment, even in such a case, it is possible to loosen the connecting bolts and temporarily fix them, and then easily adjust the height with the height adjusting bolts 87 as described above.
[0057]
According to the present embodiment, since the frame body 76 connected to the image forming apparatus main body 11 is disposed so as to be able to enter and exit the housing 33, for example, a jam occurs in the vicinity of the paper discharge roller pair 27 and the carry-in entrance 34. Is generated, the housing 33 is moved to the left while the frame body 76 is connected to the image forming apparatus main body 11, so that the left side wall 11 a of the image forming apparatus main body 11 and the right side wall 33 a of the housing 33 are moved. Since the space necessary for the jam processing can be secured, the jam processing can be easily performed. Furthermore, after the jam processing, it is possible to maintain high positional accuracy between the paper discharge roller pair 27 and the carry-in port 34 by simply returning the housing 33 to the original position along the frame 76.
[0058]
FIG. 5 shows another embodiment.
[0059]
In the finisher 12 shown in the figure, the height positions of the rollers 71 and 72 can be adjusted. That is, the rollers 71 and 72 are rotatably supported by the common shaft 90. Further, the shaft 90 is supported by the housing 33 so that the vertical tilt is possible. Then, the inclination adjusting bolts 91 and 92 are disposed at two locations near both ends of the shaft 90. These inclination adjusting bolts 91 and 92 are screwed into pedestals 93 and 94 integral with the housing 33, and their tip portions are brought into contact with the shaft 90. According to such a configuration, the vertical inclination of the shaft 90 can be adjusted by adjusting the screwing amounts of the inclination adjusting bolts 91 and 92, thereby correcting the forward / backward inclination of the housing 33. . After such correction, the height adjustment is performed by the height adjustment bolt 87 in the same manner as described above. As shown in FIG. 5, this embodiment is particularly effective when there is a small step D on the floor surface F, for example.
[0060]
In the above embodiment, the case where the members constituting the grounding points S1, S2, S3 between the floor surface F are roller-shaped members, that is, the rollers 71, 72, 73 has been described. In principle, it is also possible to use non-rotatable legs (not shown) instead.
[0061]
In the above embodiment, the case where the recording material processing apparatus according to the present invention is the finisher 12, that is, the case where it is a post-processing apparatus that processes the recording material P after image formation has been described as an example. The present invention can also be applied to a so-called preprocessing apparatus that processes the recording material P before image formation. For example, an image may be formed on the recording material P that has been previously punched by the preprocessing device.
[0062]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the recording material processing apparatus of the present invention, the height of the third support member with respect to the recording material processing apparatus main body is adjusted by the height adjusting member, whereby the recording material processing apparatus main body is The height of the opposing surface can be adjusted with the grounding point of the second support member as the center. That is, it is possible to adjust the height position of the facing surface with respect to one side surface of the image forming apparatus main body only by adjusting the third support member. Therefore, height adjustment can be performed easily and with high accuracy. Further, since the center of gravity of the recording material processing apparatus main body is located above the region in the triangle connecting the three ground points, there is no possibility that the balance of the recording material processing apparatus main body is lost and tilted during height adjustment.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a finisher according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a view taken along the line XX in FIG. 2;
4 is a view corresponding to the view taken along the line YY in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another embodiment, and is a diagram showing a configuration in which the height positions of rollers 71 and 72 can be adjusted.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Image forming apparatus, 11 ... Image forming apparatus main body, 11a ... Left side (one side), 12 ... Finisher (recording material processing apparatus), 33 ... Housing (recording material processing apparatus main body), 33a ... ... right side (opposite surface), 71 ... roller (first support member), 72 ... roller (second support member), 73 ... roller (third support member), 76 ... frame ( Access member), 85... Arm member, 87. Height adjusting bolt (height adjusting member), F... Floor surface, P .. Recording material, S1, S2, S3.

Claims (2)

In the recording material processing apparatus installed adjacent to the image forming apparatus main body installed on the floor surface and having a facing surface facing one side of the image forming apparatus main body,
The recording material processing apparatus main body is supported from below , and has first, second, and third support members that respectively form a grounding point with the floor surface .
The first and second support members are disposed on the side far from the facing surface, the third support member is disposed on the side near the facing surface, and the center of gravity of the recording material processing apparatus main body is Disposing the first, second and third support members so as to be positioned above in a triangular region connecting three grounding points;
The third support member is supported by the recording material processing apparatus main body so that the height position can be adjusted,
Oh Ri provided height adjusting member for adjusting the height position of the third support member,
The first, second and third support members are composed of rotatable roller-shaped members,
An in / out member capable of entering / exiting from the opposing surface of the recording material processing apparatus toward one side surface of the image forming apparatus main body;
An arm member that is supported by the access member so as to be swingable in a substantially vertical direction and rotatably supports the third support member,
The recording material processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the height adjusting member is an adjusting screw member that is screwed into the loading / unloading member from above and abuts the distal end side against the arm member . An image forming apparatus main body that forms an image on a recording material, and an image formed by the recording material that is installed adjacent to the image forming apparatus main body and image-formed by the image forming apparatus main body or the image forming apparatus main body In an image forming apparatus provided with a recording material processing apparatus for processing a previous recording material,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording material processing apparatus is the recording material processing apparatus according to claim 1.

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