JP4063275B2 - Paper cassette - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a paper feed cassette mounted on an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, or a facsimile machine.

  As image forming apparatuses, apparatuses for forming images on paper using various methods such as an electrophotographic method, an ink jet method, and a thermal method have been developed. Equipped with paper device. In a paper feeding device, a plurality of paper feeding cassettes containing paper are arranged in the vertical direction in the device body and are detachably mounted so that it can handle high-speed processing and various sizes of paper. ing.

However, since mounting a plurality of paper feed cassettes causes an increase in cost, for example, in Patent Document 1, the lower cassette is positioned downstream of the upper cassette with respect to the sheet feeding direction. In this manner, the respective cassettes are arranged so as to be shifted so that the same feeding separation condition of the sheet feeding unit is set and the parts are shared.
JP-A-7-61613

  In the above-mentioned prior art document, it is described that the cost is reduced by using common parts. However, the cassette mounting position is shifted in the feeding direction in the upper and lower stages, and the front cover on the front side thereof is described. Since the cassettes need to be in the same position, it is necessary to manufacture a cassette in which the front cover is shifted and fixed for the upper stage and the lower stage, and it cannot be said that the cost burden is reduced.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a paper feed cassette that can reduce the cost by sharing all the components of the paper feed cassette that are arranged in a vertical direction and are detachably mounted. .

A plurality of sheet cassettes according to the present invention are a plurality of sheet cassettes arranged in the vertical direction and detachably mounted in a direction substantially perpendicular to the sheet feeding direction, the cassette body for storing sheets, and the cassette body A front cover attached to the front side of the attachment / detachment direction, and setting means for setting the attachment position of the front cover by shifting the front cover in the paper supply direction according to the attachment position of the paper feed cassette. Features. Further, the cassette body is provided with a remaining paper indicator on the front side in the attaching / detaching direction, the front cover is provided with the remaining paper indicator window, and the remaining paper indicator is The setting means has a width equal to or larger than a setting range of the mounting position of the front cover.

  By having the configuration as described above, the cassette body of the paper feed cassette is provided with setting means for setting the mounting position of the front cover according to the mounting position of the paper feed cassette. can do. That is, if the front cover is shifted and attached to the cassette body according to the mounting position of the paper feeding cassette, the paper feeding cassette corresponding to each mounting position can be assembled even if the same front cover is used. Therefore, it is possible to use the same cassette body and front cover, and it is possible to manufacture a plurality of types of paper feed cassettes with common parts, thereby reducing the cost burden.

  Also, when the cassette body is provided with a paper remaining indicator on the front side in the attaching / detaching direction and a paper remaining indicator window is provided on the front cover, the setting range of the front cover mounting position by the setting means for the width of the paper remaining indicator By doing so, even if the front cover mounting position is shifted, the paper remaining indicator is displayed in the paper remaining indicator window of the front cover, and the paper feed cassette having the paper remaining indicator is provided. As for the cassette body, the cassette body and the front cover can be shared.

  Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail. The embodiments described below are preferable specific examples for carrying out the present invention, and thus various technical limitations are made. However, the present invention is particularly limited in the following description. Unless otherwise specified, the present invention is not limited to these forms.

  FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of an image forming apparatus equipped with a paper feed cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention. The sheet feeding device 1 is disposed at the lower part of the image forming apparatus, and the upper and lower two-stage sheet feeding cassettes 10 are detachably mounted in the front direction (arrow direction). When paper is loaded into the paper feed cassette 10, it is pulled out in the front direction.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the sheet feeding device 1 as viewed from the front. A sheet feeding device 1 is disposed at the bottom of the image forming apparatus, and a sheet conveying unit 2 and a recording unit 3 are disposed on the top thereof. Although not shown in the drawing, a document reading unit, a document transport device, and the like are arranged on the upper portion of the recording unit 3.

  The sheet feeding device 1 includes upper and lower two-stage sheet feeding cassettes 10, and each sheet feeding cassette 10 is configured by attaching a front cover 12 (shown by a thick dashed line) to the front surface of the cassette body 11. The paper feed cassette 10 is detachable by sliding in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. In the cassette body 11, sheets 14 are stacked on a flapper 15 that is a stacking plate, and the rear end thereof is in contact with the end guide 13. The flapper 15 is pivotally supported by the paper feed cassette by pins 16 so as to be movable up and down. A plate spring (not shown) is provided on the lower surface, and pushes up the flapper 15 upward. The leading edge of the paper 14 pushed up by the leaf spring is pressed against the paper feeding roller 17.

  The sheet feeding roller 17 is provided in the sheet feeding cassette 12, and a pad 18 and a pad support member 19 that supports the pad 18 are also disposed in the sheet feeding cassette 12. The pad 18 is pressed by a spring 20 at a position close to the front end of the paper 14 of the paper feeding roller 17. By rotating the paper supply roller 17, the leading end of the paper 14 is pulled in and is sandwiched between the pad 18 and fed one by one along the paper guide 21 to the upper paper transport unit 2.

  In the paper transport unit 2, the fed paper is transported to the recording unit 3 by feed rollers 22 and 23. The recording unit 3 includes a developing device 24, a charging brush 27, a photosensitive drum 28, a transfer roller 29, an exposure head 30, and a fixing roller 31 for recording on the paper conveyed by the paper conveyance unit 2. First, the surface of the photosensitive drum 28 is uniformly charged by the charging brush 27, and the charged photosensitive drum 28 is exposed by the exposure head 30 in accordance with an image recording signal, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image. Next, the toner in the developing device 24 is transferred from the supply roller 25 to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 28 via the developing roller 26 to be visualized, and the surface of the photosensitive drum 28 is transferred by the transfer roller 29. The toner image formed on the sheet is transferred to a sheet. The transferred toner image is sandwiched between the fixing roller 31 and the press roller 32 and heated and pressed to be fixed on the paper. The fixed sheet is carried out to the discharge tray 34 by the discharge roller 33.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the upper and lower paper feed cassettes 10 are assembled using the same cassette body 11 and front cover 12. Further, the sheet cassette 10 is arranged at a position where the position of the cassette body is shifted with respect to the sheet feeding direction between the upper stage and the lower stage. Since the sheet conveyance path of the lower sheet cassette 10 is formed on the side surface (the right side in FIG. 2) of the upper sheet cassette 10, the upper sheet cassette 10 has a sheet feeding direction relative to the lower sheet. Are arranged offset to the opposite side. On the other hand, the front cover 12 is disposed at the same position in the upper and lower stages without being displaced in the paper feeding direction.

  Next, a method for setting the attachment position of the front cover 12 with respect to the cassette body 11 will be described. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which the front cover 12 is removed from the cassette body 11. On the side surface of the cassette body 11 to which the front cover is attached, a remaining sheet indicator 40 is provided at the end of the sheet feeding roller 17 side. The remaining paper indicator 40 moves up and down depending on the remaining amount of paper in the cassette body 11. A conventionally known mechanism may be used to move the remaining paper indicator 40 up and down. For example, one end of an operating bar inserted into a hole formed in the cassette body 11 is fixed to the remaining paper indicator 40. If the other end is operated in accordance with the vertical movement of the flapper 15 and the middle of the operation bar is swung as a branch, when the paper is set and the flapper 15 is lowered, the remaining paper indicator When 40 rises and the remaining amount of paper decreases and the flapper 15 rises, the remaining paper amount indicator 40 can be lowered accordingly.

  In addition, rectangular insertion holes 41 a and 41 b are formed on the left and right sides at a position at a substantially intermediate height on the side surface of the cassette body 11. Notches 42a and 42b are respectively formed at the lower ends directly below the insertion holes 41a and 41b. Protruding pieces 43a and 43b bent at a substantially right angle are provided on the upper portions of the insertion holes 41a and 41b, and positioning protrusions 44a and 44b are provided on the lower surfaces of the protruding pieces 43a and 43b. .

  A plurality of ribs are formed on the mounting surface side of the front cover 12 in the vertical and horizontal directions, and a hook-shaped locking portion 50a is formed at the lower end of the front cover 12 at a position corresponding to the notches 42a and 42b of the cassette body 11. And 50b. Further, positioning piece portions 51a and 51b are provided at positions corresponding to the insertion holes 41a and 41b of the cassette body 11 so as to protrude from the ribs. Two positioning holes 52a and 53a, 52b and 53b are formed in the positioning pieces 51a and 51b on the left and right, respectively. Further, a window portion 54 formed in a triangular shape is formed at a position corresponding to the remaining sheet indicator 40 provided in the cassette body 11. When the front cover 12 is attached, it is provided at the lower end of the front cover 12 while inserting either the left or right of the positioning holes of the positioning pieces 51a and 51b into the positioning projections 44a and 44b provided in the cassette body 11. The locking portions 50a and 50b thus formed are inserted into the cutout portions 42a and 42b of the cassette body 11 and locked. Thus, the front cover 12 can be attached to the cassette body 11.

  FIG. 4 shows a state in which the front cover 12 is attached to the cassette body 11 in the lower paper feed cassette 10. FIG. 4 (a) is a view of the attachment portion from above, and FIG. FIG. 5 is an enlarged front view showing a positional relationship between a window portion 54 and a remaining paper amount indicator 40. FIG. 5 shows a state in which the front cover 12 is attached to the cassette body 11 in the upper paper feed cassette 10, and FIG. 5 (a) is a view of the attachment portion as seen from above, as in FIG. FIG. 5B is an enlarged front view showing the positional relationship between the window portion 54 and the remaining paper amount indicator 40.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, the positioning protrusions 44a and 44b of the cassette body 11 are inserted into the positioning holes 53a and 53b of the front cover 12, respectively. The distance d in the left-right direction between the two positioning holes 52a and 53a, 52b and 53b formed in the positioning piece portions 51a and 51b of the front cover 12 is the distance between the upper sheet cassette and the lower sheet cassette. It is set in advance according to the positional deviation. The width W of the remaining paper indicator 40 is set to be larger than the distance d between the positioning holes. As shown in FIG. 4B, in the lower sheet cassette, on the left side of the remaining paper indicator 40. A window portion 54 is arranged.

  In the upper sheet cassette, as shown in FIG. 5 (a), the positioning protrusions 44a and 44b are inserted into the positioning holes 52a and 52b, so that the front cover 12 is directed to the right as compared with the lower sheet cassette. They are attached in a state shifted by the distance d (downward in FIG. 5A). For this reason, the window portion 54 of the front cover 12 is also displaced with respect to the remaining paper amount indicator 40, but as shown in FIG. 5B, the width W of the remaining paper amount indicator 40 is set larger than the interval d. Therefore, the window portion 54 is arranged on the right side of the remaining paper amount indicator 40 and can display the remaining amount of paper as in the lower sheet cassette.

  As described above, the cassette body and the front cover are made common in the upper and lower stages, and positioning protrusions and positioning holes are provided as means for setting the mounting position of the front cover so that they can be easily set. The cost of the paper cassette can be reduced, and the assembly work can be made more efficient. Further, the remaining paper amount indicator can be shared by setting the width of the paper remaining indicator to be equal to or larger than the setting range of the front cover (the interval d in the above example).

1 is an external perspective view of an image forming apparatus including an embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a partial schematic cross-sectional view showing an internal structure of the image forming apparatus in FIG. 1. It is a perspective view which shows the state which removed the front cover from the cassette main body. FIG. 6 is a top view and a partially enlarged external view showing a mounting state of a front cover of a lower sheet cassette. FIG. 6 is a top view and a partially enlarged external view illustrating a state in which a front cover of the upper sheet cassette is attached.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Paper feeder 2 Paper conveyance part 3 Recording part
10 Paper cassette
11 Cassette body
12 Front cover
13 End guide
14 paper
15 Flapper
17 Feed roller
40 Remaining paper indicator
41 insertion hole
42 Notch
43 Projection
44 Positioning protrusion
50 Locking part
51 Positioning piece
52 Positioning hole
53 Positioning hole
54 Window

Claims (2)

A plurality of paper feed cassettes arranged in the vertical direction and detachably mounted in a direction substantially perpendicular to the paper feed direction, the cassette main body for storing paper, and attached to the front side of the cassette main body in the attachment / detachment direction A sheet feeding cassette comprising: a front cover; and setting means for setting the mounting position of the front cover by shifting the front cover in the sheet feeding direction according to the mounting position of the sheet feeding cassette. The cassette body is provided with a remaining paper indicator on the front side in the attaching / detaching direction, the front cover is provided with a paper remaining indicator window, and the remaining paper indicator is 2. The paper feed cassette according to claim 1, wherein the paper feed cassette has a width that is equal to or larger than a setting range of a mounting position of the front cover by setting means.

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