JP3776633B2 - Office machine - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an office machine in which an auto sheet feeder and a tractor are provided on the back side of a printing apparatus having a display unit and an input device on the front side.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, an auto sheet feeder that feeds a single sheet from the back side to a paper conveyance path that is connected to the printing unit, or a continuous printing device that has a display unit and input device on the front of the main body case with a built-in printing unit. An office machine connected with a tractor for feeding paper is used. The printing apparatus includes a plurality of paper feed ports that communicate with a paper conveyance path that guides the print medium to the printing unit, and the auto sheet feeder and the tractor are connected to different paper feed ports, respectively. Generally, the auto sheet feeder is disposed above the tractor. Further, the paper conveyance path communicates with a paper discharge port for discharging the printed medium after printing. The paper discharge port is formed on the upper surface of the main body case because the display unit and the input device are provided on the front surface.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
With such a structure, since the auto sheet feeder is located above the tractor, when continuous paper is fed and printed by the tractor, the discharged continuous paper enters the auto sheet feeder, There is a possibility of entering the printing apparatus along the upper surface of the auto sheet feeder.
[0004]
For this reason, measures such as providing a cover on the auto sheet feeder are taken. However, if the auto sheet feeder is provided with a cover, the cover must be removed one by one when a single sheet is replenished or replaced in the auto sheet feeder, and a space for placing the removed cover is also required.
[0005]
In offices and the like, there are many cases where other equipment is arranged next to the office machine due to space constraints. In this case, the paper is replenished or replaced from the front side of the printing apparatus to the auto sheet feeder or tractor. When the auto sheet feeder is disposed above the tractor when working on the tractor, the tractor This makes it difficult to replenish and replace continuous paper. This complication is thought to be mitigated by arranging the auto seat feeder further rearward than the tractor, but it is not practical because the space in the depth direction increases. In particular, in the case of an office machine having a keyboard on the front side, if there is little space in the depth direction, the keyboard must be placed in front of the desk. In this case, when operating the keyboard, the arm cannot be placed on the desk, resulting in a problem that the operability is deteriorated.
[0006]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to secure a continuous paper discharge path by an easy method without impairing the convenience of replenishment and replacement of a print medium in an auto sheet feeder.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an office machine having a built-in printing unit, a display unit provided on the front surface of the printing device, an input device provided on the front surface of the printing device, and the printing device. A tractor that feeds continuous paper from the rear, an auto sheet feeder that is disposed above the tractor and that feeds a single sheet held on the printing device with a tilted rear end, and is arranged behind the printing device And a support means for selectively supporting the auto sheet feeder at any one of a paper feed position and a rear position where the upper surface of the tractor is opened, and a tractor provided in the printing apparatus is connected. A paper slot communicates with a paper feed slot to which the auto sheet feeder is connected, and a single sheet or continuous paper fed from each paper feed slot is guided to the upper surface of the printing apparatus via the printing unit and is located on the rear side. Output toward A sheet conveying path for the supported upward at one end of the printer rotatably and stack position in which the cut sheet which is discharged are stacked in a propped condition, near the rear end of the other end auto sheet feeder a covering position to position to, and a one of the discharged paper receiving provided to be selectively positioned at a position between the position for sheet feeding work is positioned toward the front side of the other end, located in the covering position The auto sheet feeder is covered with the paper discharge receptacle, so that the leading edge of the continuous paper fed from the tractor and printed by the printing unit can be prevented from entering the auto sheet feeder.
[0009]
The invention according to claim 2 is the office machine according to claim 1, wherein the discharge receiver includes a first discharge receiver that is rotatably supported at one end above the printing device. The second discharge receptacle is shorter than one discharge receptacle, and the second discharge receptacle has a position overlapping the first discharge receptacle and a position extending from the other end of the first discharge receptacle. It can be selectively positioned at any position.
[0010]
Therefore, it is possible to change the length of the paper discharge receiver as required.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An embodiment of an office machine according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The office machine according to the present embodiment prints and issues a single sheet or continuous paper, and includes a printing device 1, an auto sheet feeder 2, and a tractor 3. 1 to 3 are longitudinal right side views showing a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus 1 and an auto sheet feeder 2 and a tractor 3 connected to the printing apparatus 1, and FIG. FIG. 2 shows a state in which the continuous paper T is fed from the tractor 3 for printing, and FIG. 3 shows a state in which the continuous paper T is set in the tractor 3. Yes. The auto sheet feeder 2 is attached in a state where the sheet S of the sheet S is directed forward and inclined by 45 ° with respect to the horizontal. Further, the tractor 3 is attached in a state inclined by 15 ° with respect to the horizontal with the paper surface of the continuous paper T facing slightly rearward.
[0012]
First, a printing unit 5 is provided in the main body case 4 of the printing apparatus 1. The printing unit 5 is formed by a dot print head 6 mounted on a carrier (not shown) and a flat platen 7 facing the dot print head 6. The carrier on which the dot print head 6 is mounted is movably supported by a carrier shaft (not shown), and is configured to be reciprocated by a drive unit (not shown).
[0013]
Further, an LCD 8 that is a display unit is provided on the front surface of the main body case 4, and a keyboard 9 that is an input device is provided below the LCD 8. Further, inside the main body case 4, there are provided a paper conveyance path 11 from the manual feed port 10 formed in the vicinity of the keyboard 9 to the printing unit 5, and paper supply ports 12 and 13 formed on the rear surface of the main body case 4. A paper conveyance path 14 connected to the paper conveyance path 11 is formed. A plurality of pairs of conveying rollers 15 are arranged in the sheet conveying path 11, and a printed sheet is disposed on the upper portion of the printing unit 5 by a sheet discharge tray 16 that is a first sheet discharge receiver and a second sheet discharge receiver. A paper discharge roller 19 for discharging the paper toward a paper discharge receiver 18 including a sub-tray 17 is arranged. In the other sheet conveyance path 14, a single sheet S fed from the sheet feeding port 12 by the auto sheet feeder 2 or a continuous sheet fed from the sheet feeding port 13 by the tractor 3 is directed toward the printing unit 5. A conveyance roller 20 for conveyance is provided.
[0014]
One end of the sub-tray 17 is rotatably attached to the front end of the paper discharge tray 16, and the sub-tray 17 extends from a position overlapping the paper discharge tray 16 (see FIG. 1 or FIG. 3) and the front end of the paper discharge tray 16. It selectively arrange | positions in either of the positions (refer FIG. 2) to take out.
[0015]
One end of the paper discharge tray 16 is rotatably attached to the upper surface of the main body case 4, and includes a stack position shown in FIG. 1, a cover position shown in FIG. 2, and a paper feed operation position shown in FIG. It is provided so that it can be positioned at three locations. The stack position is a position inclined by 60 ° with respect to the horizontal. At this position, the discharged sheet S is stacked with the paper surface facing forward. The cover position is inclined by 20 ° with respect to the horizontal, and the front end of the sub-tray 17 positioned at a position extending from the front end of the paper discharge tray 16 is positioned near the upper end of the auto sheet feeder 2. At the paper feed operation position, the front end is positioned on the front side, and it is easy to look into the back of the printing apparatus 1.
[0016]
Support bodies 21 are fixedly provided opposite to each other on both sides of the rear portion of the main body case 4, and the tractor 3 and the auto sheet feeder 2 are supported by these support bodies 21. The auto sheet feeder 2 includes a bottom plate 24 urged upward by a spring 23 inside a housing 22, a paper feed roller 25 that feeds a single sheet S placed on the bottom plate 24 one by one, A separation roller 26 that prevents the single sheet S fed by the sheet feeding roller 25 from being double fed, and a motor (not shown) that drives the sheet feeding roller 25 and the separation roller 26 are provided. Note that the printing apparatus 1 can select continuous paper feeding by the tractor 3, sheet S feeding by the auto sheet feeder 2, and various paper feeding from the manual feed slot 10.
[0017]
Here, the auto sheet feeder 2 is movable between a position close to the back surface of the printing apparatus 1 (hereinafter referred to as a paper feed position) and a separation position (hereinafter referred to as a rear position) where the upper surface of the tractor 3 is opened. The structure of the support means 27 for selectively positioning the auto sheet feeder 2 at either the paper feed position or the rear position will be described.
[0018]
Opposing supports 21 fixed on both sides of the rear portion of the main body case 4 are connected at their rear ends by connecting members (not shown). A through shaft (not shown) orthogonal to the paper feeding direction is fixed to the bracket 28 that supports the housing 22 of the auto sheet feeder 2 from both sides, and a deformed shaft 29 is integrally formed at both ends of the through shaft. A formed gear (not shown) is fixedly fitted. The deformed shaft 29 has a cross-sectional shape in which notched portions 29b are formed at two symmetrical positions about the rotational axis of the cylindrical portion 29a.
[0019]
The support body 21 has an elongated hole portion 30a that slidably guides the cutout portion 29b of the deformed shaft 29, and an expanded shape that expands from the rear end of the elongated hole portion 30a to allow the rotating motion of the deformed shaft 29. A guide groove 30 having a circular hole portion 30b is formed. Further, the support 21 is provided with a transmission mechanism for guiding a movable member (not shown) in which teeth engaged with a gear integrally formed with the deformed shaft 29 are formed in a rack shape along the guide groove 30. It has been.
[0020]
When replenishing the continuous paper T to the tractor 3, the auto sheet feeder 2 is retracted from the state shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 to the state shown in FIG. First, when the movable member meshed with the gear integrated with the deformed shaft 29 is moved backward by the transmission mechanism, the deformed shaft 29 slides backward in the elongated hole portion 30a of the guide groove 30. At this time, the auto sheet feeder 2 is also retracted parallel to the longitudinal direction of the long hole portion 30a. Next, when the deformed shaft 29 reaches the expanded circular hole portion 30b, it is prevented from sliding backward even if the movable member is retracted, so that the inside of the expanded circular hole portion 30b rotates in the clockwise direction in the drawing. Begin to. At this time, the auto sheet feeder 2 also rotates. When the movable member reaches the end of the moving range, the deformed shaft 29 stops rotating, and therefore the rotation of the auto sheet feeder 2 also stops. Here, the auto sheet feeder 2 at this time is inclined by 74 ° with respect to the vertical with the paper surface slightly rearward. Furthermore, a gap of 120 mm is formed between the auto sheet feeder 2 and the main body case 4.
[0021]
Conversely, when the auto sheet feeder 2 in the state of FIG. 3 is returned to the state of FIGS. 1 and 2, the moving mechanism is operated in reverse to advance the movable member. When the movable member moves forward, the deformed shaft 29 integrated with the gear meshing with the movable member rotates in the enlarged circular hole portion 30b in the counterclockwise direction in the drawing, and the cutout portion 29b becomes the long hole portion 30a. When parallel, the deformed shaft 29 starts to slide forward in the long hole portion 30a, and when the movable member reaches the forefront portion of its moving range, the deformed shaft 29 stops sliding, and therefore the movement of the auto sheet feeder 2 Also stop.
[0022]
In such a configuration, the case where the office machine of the present embodiment is used by being placed on a desk with a depth of 700 mm installed 80 mm away from the wall surface as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 will be described as an example. FIG. 4 shows a state when the office machine is used, and FIG. 5 shows a state when the continuous paper T is supplied to the tractor 3.
[0023]
First, at the time of use, as shown in FIG. 4, it installs so that the front end of an office machine may be located in the back about 100 mm from the front end of a desk. Since the office machine has a total length of 650 mm, in this state, there is a margin of about 30 mm from the rear end of the support 21 to the wall surface. In this state, when the keyboard 9 is operated, a space for placing the operator's arm is secured, and the operability is good.
[0024]
When printing and issuing a single sheet S fed from the auto sheet feeder 2 or the manual feed slot 10, the paper discharge tray 16 is positioned at the stack position (see FIG. 1). When the size of the cut sheet S is large, the sub-tray 17 is used by being positioned at a position extending from the paper discharge tray 16.
[0025]
When printing on continuous paper T fed from the tractor 3, the sub-tray 17 is rotated to a position extending from the paper discharge tray 16, and the front end of the sub-tray 17 is close to the upper end of the auto sheet feeder 2. (See FIG. 2). In this state, the continuous paper T is conveyed along a path indicated by a two-dot chain line, and after paper discharge, the continuous paper T is guided to the paper discharge tray 16 and the sub-tray 17 and wraps around the rear end of the auto sheet feeder 2. Therefore, even if the auto sheet feeder 2 is not provided with a cover, the leading edge of the continuous paper T does not enter the auto sheet feeder 2.
[0026]
When replenishing the continuous paper T to the tractor 3, as shown in FIG. 5, after moving the office machine to the front end side of the desk, the auto sheet feeder 2 is moved backward. Since the total length of the office machine with the auto sheet feeder 2 retracted is 750 mm, the auto sheet feeder 2 does not collide with the wall if it is moved forward by at least 70 mm. That is, a movement amount that does not allow the keyboard 9 to protrude from the desk is sufficient.
[0027]
If the operator stands toward the LCD 8, the replenishment of the continuous paper T to the tractor 3 is performed through the printing apparatus 1, but the auto sheet feeder 2 is moved backward to move the auto sheet feeder 2 and the main body case 4. A gap of 120 mm is formed between them, and the paper discharge tray 16 is positioned forwardly with the sub-tray 17 folded, so that a sufficient field of view can be obtained (FIG. 3). reference).
[0028]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the continuous paper is replenished to the tractor 3, the auto sheet feeder 2 can be moved backward from the paper feeding position to open the upper space of the tractor 3. Therefore, it is possible to improve the visibility of the tractor 3 from the front side of the printing apparatus 1. Thereby, the continuous paper can be easily supplied.
[0029]
In this case, since the auto seat feeder 2 can be rotated so that the front portion thereof is directed upward, the upper space of the tractor 3 is widely opened without increasing the rearward movement distance of the auto seat feeder 2. be able to. Therefore, the installation space in the depth direction can be shortened. Further, it is possible to secure a space for placing the operator's arm on the front side of the keyboard 9 as much as it is not necessary to widen the space in the back direction.
[0030]
Further, as shown in FIG. 1, in the state where the auto sheet feeder 2 is located at the paper feed position, the front end enters the inside of the main body case 4 of the printing apparatus 1, but the auto sheet feeder 2 is moved backward from the paper feed position. Since the front part can be rotated upward at an arbitrary position away from the paper feed position toward the rear position by a predetermined distance, the auto sheet feeder 2 can be moved upward. The space above the tractor 3 can be opened by rotating without causing interference with the printing apparatus 1. Thereby, it is not necessary to form a concave relief for avoiding interference with the auto sheet feeder 2 on the rear surface of the main body case 4. Thereby, the design of the rear surface of the main body case 4 is not impaired.
[0031]
In the present embodiment, one end of the sub-tray 17 is pivotally attached to the tip of the paper discharge tray 16, but in implementation, the sub-tray 17 is slidably attached to the paper discharge tray 16, The sub-tray 17 may be selectively disposed at either the position where the sub-tray 17 overlaps the paper discharge tray 16 or the position where the sub-tray 17 extends from the front end of the paper discharge tray 16 according to the slide.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
According to the first aspect of the present invention , when the continuous sheet is discharged, the sheet receiving tray is positioned at the cover position so that the sheet discharging tray covers the auto sheet feeder, and the auto sheet feeder includes the cover. Even without this, the leading edge of the continuous paper can be prevented from entering the auto sheet feeder, and a continuous paper discharge path can be secured.
[0033]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the paper discharge receiver is shorter than the first paper discharge receiver and the first paper discharge receiver that is rotatably supported at one end above the printing apparatus. The second discharge receptacle can be selectively positioned at either a position overlapping the first discharge receptacle or a position extending from the other end of the first discharge receptacle. Therefore, the length of the paper discharge receptacle can be changed as necessary. Therefore, in a state where the paper discharge receiver is positioned at the cover position, the length of the paper discharge receiver should be long enough to reach the top edge of the auto sheet feeder, and should be shortened when that length is unnecessary. Can do.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a vertical right side view of an office machine showing a schematic configuration of an office machine according to an embodiment of the present invention and a state of printing on a single sheet fed from an auto sheet feeder.
FIG. 2 is a vertical right side view of the office machine showing a state in which printing is performed on continuous paper fed from a tractor.
FIG. 3 is a vertical right side view of the office machine showing a state in which continuous paper is supplied to the tractor.
FIG. 4 is a right side view illustrating an example of a state in which the office machine is placed on a desk.
FIG. 5 is a right side view showing a state in which continuous paper is supplied to a tractor of an office machine placed on a desk.
[Explanation of symbols]
S Single sheet T Continuous paper 1 Printing device 2 Auto sheet feeder 3 Tractor 5 Printing unit 8 Display unit 9 Input device 11, 14 Paper transport path 12, 13 Paper feed port 16 First paper discharge receptacle 17 Second paper discharge receptacle 18 Ejection Paper receiver 27 Support means

Claims (2)

A printing device with a built-in printing unit;
A display unit provided on the front surface of the printing device;
An input device provided on the front surface of the printing device;
A tractor that feeds continuous paper to the printing device from the rear,
An auto sheet feeder that is disposed on the tractor and feeds a single sheet held on the printing device with an inclination that rises at the rear end ; and
A support means that is disposed behind the printing apparatus and selectively supports the auto sheet feeder at any one of a paper feed position and a rear position that opens the upper surface of the tractor;
A sheet feeding port to which the tractor provided in the printing apparatus is connected is connected to a sheet feeding port to which the auto sheet feeder is connected, and a single sheet or continuous paper fed from each sheet feeding port is connected to the sheet feeding port. A paper conveyance path that leads to the upper surface of the printing apparatus via the printing unit and discharges the paper toward the rear side ;
A stack position in which one end is rotatably supported above the printing apparatus and the discharged sheets are stacked in a standing state; and a cover position in which the other end is positioned near the rear end of the auto sheet feeder; A paper discharge receptacle provided so as to be selectively positionable at any one of the paper feed work positions where the other end is located on the front side;
The auto sheet feeder is covered with the paper discharge receptacle located at the cover position, and the leading edge of the continuous paper fed from the tractor and printed by the printing unit is prevented from entering the auto sheet feeder. An office machine that can be used.   The paper discharge receiver includes a first paper discharge receiver whose one end is rotatably supported above the printing apparatus, and a second paper discharge receiver shorter than the first paper discharge receiver. 2. The office work according to claim 1, wherein the receiver is provided so as to be selectively positioned at any one of a position overlapping the first paper discharge receiver and a position extending from the other end of the first paper discharge receiver. Machine.

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