JP4200994B2 - Paper feed tray - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a structure of a paper feed tray used in an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copier, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction machine of these.

  The paper feed tray of the image forming apparatus includes a housing, a paper stacking plate provided on the bottom of the housing for placing paper, a side guide for regulating the side of the paper, an end guide for determining the tail end position of the paper, and paper It consists of component parts such as a paper separation claw for separating and discharging the paper one by one, a retard roll, and a housing loading / unloading handle. In a tray that can store 250 sheets (1/2 pack) or more, it is necessary to sufficiently secure the rigidity of the tray itself. Further, even if the sheet conveyance speed is increased, it is necessary to assemble each component with high accuracy so as to maintain the sheet conveyance performance. Therefore, conventionally, the paper feed tray inevitably has a large number of screw fastening structures. For this reason, the complexity of assembly property and the cost increase were invited. In addition, when considering recycling, if there are a large number of screw fastening points, a great deal of labor is required for disassembling man-hours. At the same time, it takes time and labor to sort and reuse individual components.

  Further, most of the paper feed trays are generally made of resin in order to reduce cost and weight. When conscious of reuse, it is necessary to disassemble each component of the paper feed tray made of resin without damaging it. If screws are fastened to a component made of resin, the screw holes are broken during disassembly, and it is difficult to reassemble them using the same screw holes.

  In view of such circumstances, the present invention significantly improves the structure of the paper feed tray of the image forming apparatus, is easy to assemble and disassemble, and is a reasonable paper feed tray for reuse, reuse, and disposal. The purpose is to provide.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and in a paper feed tray provided with a side guide that regulates the side of the paper and a paper separation member that separates and discharges the paper one by one. A sandwiching portion is formed between the side guide and an operation knob for operating the side guide. The paper separation member is a paper separation claw, and the operation knob is integrated with a shaft that fits into the side guide. The paper feed tray is characterized in that a fulcrum for the paper separation claw is formed on the paper feed tray.

  In addition, it is preferable to dispose the snap so that the force that the sheet separation claw receives from the sheet during sheet feeding acts in a direction in which the snap fit of the operation knob used at the time of assembly does not come off. Further, as a means for avoiding a paper separation claw that becomes an obstacle when the paper stacking plate is assembled, a slit that elastically opens between the operation knob member and the side guide and temporarily holds the paper separation claw in a retracted position. It can be set as the structure which formed the part.

  In addition, in order to satisfy the paper feeding performance, a member that restricts the movable range of the claw is provided, and this restricting member is also structured to bend by elasticity, and the claw is restricted so that it does not interfere with other members during assembly. Provided is a paper feed tray characterized in that a member is bent to avoid a claw. At this time, the sheet separating claw and the regulating member are arranged in a direction that firmly regulates the separating claw without escaping from the normal position to be regulated even if the member regulating the movable range of the sheet separating claw is bent by the force received during paper feeding. Arranged.

  As described above, in the present invention, the assembly members between the tray constituent members are all snap-fit structures, and can be easily assembled and disassembled. In addition, the entire process of assembling and disassembling the tray is formed by only members that can be performed from the same direction without changing the direction of the tray, which greatly contributes to labor saving.

  Since the sheet feeding tray of the present invention is configured as described above, the complexity of assembling property can be eliminated and the sheet feeding tray can be manufactured at a low cost. In addition, when considering recycling and reuse, it can be easily disassembled, and there is an excellent effect that a member to be reused or reused and a member to be discarded can be immediately selected.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 14 is a plan view of the paper feed tray 1 and FIG. 15 is a side view thereof. The paper feed tray 1 includes a housing 10, a paper stacking plate 20, a side guide 30, an end guide 40, a paper separation claw 50, a retard roll 60, and a housing insertion / removal handle 70. The housing 10 is a box-shaped casing of the paper feed tray 1 and is a box having a bottom plate and a side wall plate that surrounds the four sides, and an open top surface.

  The paper stacking plate 20 is a flat tray placed on the bottom plate of the housing 10 and has an ascending / descending function according to the amount of paper. Yes. The side guide 30 regulates both sides of the paper in the paper feed tray 1 and holds and guides the paper in the center in the width direction. The side guide 30 is provided with standing walls on the left and right sides, and operation knobs are attached to the standing walls. Thus, the interval between the standing walls can be adjusted to match the sheet width according to the sheet size.

  The end guide 40 is a member for positioning the tail end of the paper, and is set to move to a certain position according to the length of the paper. The paper separation claw 50 is a rocking member that has claws on both sides of the paper at the front end of the paper supply direction, and separates and feeds the paper one sheet at a time. The sheet separation claw 50 is attached to the side guide 30 or can be moved in the sheet width direction together with the side guide 30.

  The retard roll 60 is provided at the center of the paper delivery end, and is provided on the bottom plate of the housing to smoothly advance the paper in the delivery direction. The housing insertion / removal handle 70 is provided at the rear end of the housing 10 on the loading side, and is a handle for inserting / removing the entire paper tray 1 into / from the printer main body.

  FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a side guide 30 and a sheet separating claw 50 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the side guide. In the present invention, the sheet separation claw 50 is sandwiched between the side wall 31 of the side guide 30 and the operation knob 35, and the member configuration is simplified. When the paper tray of the present invention is attached to the operation knob attachment hole 33 provided on the side wall 31 of the paper side guide 30, the operation knob 35 forms a sandwiching portion for sandwiching the paper separation claw 50.

  As shown in the plan view of FIG. 3 and the side view of FIG. 4, the sheet separation claw 50 has a claw 51 that presses the leading edge of the sheet, and swings in a direction in which the claw moves up and down around the swing center hole 52. The tail end is provided with a swing restricting portion 53. In the present invention, the fulcrum of the paper separation claw 50 is formed integrally with a shaft for fitting the operation knob 35 into the side wall 31 of the side guide. Accordingly, when assembling the paper separation claw 50, the paper separation claw 50 and the operation knob 35 can be assembled to the side guide 30 at the same time.

  FIG. 5 is a side view of an embodiment of the operation knob 35, and FIG. FIG. 7 shows a side view of another embodiment. In FIGS. 5 to 7, the shaft 36 fitted into the side guide is made to coincide with the swing center hole 52 of the sheet separation claw 50. The wall of this portion of the operation knob is cut into a “U” shape to form a flexible portion 37 in order to facilitate the mounting of the shaft. 5 and FIG. 7, the formation direction of the cut of the bent portion 37 is different. Further, a snap 38 is provided to sandwich the rocking restricting portion 53 of the paper separation claw.

  The sheet separation claw 50 is snap-fitted to a snap 38 provided on the operation knob 35. The snap 38 is disposed so that the force received by the sheet separation claw 50 from the sheet during sheet feeding acts in a direction in which the snap fit of the operation knob 35 used during assembly does not come off. The sheet separation claw 50 receives pressure from the sheet from below during feeding, and this is concentrated on the shaft 36 of the sheet separation claw 50. In the present invention, when a force is applied to the shaft, the snap 38 is arranged so that the force acts in a direction in which the snap fit that functions when the operation knob is assembled is not removed. This will be specifically described as follows.

  A sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 5 is shown in FIG. 8, and a sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. In FIG. 8, a shaft 36 is a shaft that attaches the operation knob 35 to the side wall 31 of the side guide 30, and is a shaft that supports the swinging central hole 52 of the paper separation claw 50. When the load 54 of the sheet separation claw acts on the shaft 36 upward from below, the wall of the shaft mounting portion is cut into a “U” shape that opens downward, so that in FIG. As shown, the moment is applied in a clockwise direction and the shaft 36 tends to bend and bend away. At this time, the snap 38 shown in FIG. 9 tends to swing clockwise with the upper portion as a fulcrum as indicated by the arrow 56. Therefore, the stopper claw 39 bends in the direction to be removed.

  A cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of the operation knob shown in FIG. 7 is shown in FIG. 10, and a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD is shown in FIG. In this case, when a counterclockwise moment indicated by an arrow 55 is applied to the shaft 36, the shaft 36 acts in a direction to bite into the side guide side plate. In FIG. 11, the snap 38 is bent in the direction in which the stopper claw 39 bites in by applying a moment counterclockwise as indicated by the arrow 57 around the fulcrum. Therefore, the shape shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 is more preferable than the operation knob 35 having the shape shown in FIGS.

  When assembling the paper stacking plate 20, the paper separation claw 50 becomes an obstacle. As means for avoiding this, a part of the side wall 31 of the side guide 30 can be temporarily held by being sandwiched between the side guide 30 and the operation knob 35 using the elasticity of the operation knob 35 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, a protrusion 32 is provided. That is, in order to avoid the paper separation claw 50 that becomes an obstacle when the paper stacking plate is assembled and fix it to the temporary avoidance position, a narrow portion is provided between the operation knob 35 and the side guide side wall 31.

  As shown in FIG. 12, when the paper separation claw 50 is swung, the narrow gap between the protrusion 32 and the operation knob 35 is slightly widened due to the elasticity of the operation knob 35, and the side wall with the side guide. A sheet separation claw is sandwiched between 31 and the operation knob 35 so that the swinging posture can be maintained. This mechanism portion can be used effectively when assembling the sheet separating claw.

  In order to satisfy the paper feeding performance, as shown in FIG. 13, a regulating member 38 that regulates the movable range of the paper separation claw 50 is provided at the tail end portion of the paper separation claw 50. The restricting member 38 also forms a claw structure member that bends due to elasticity to the operation knob 35. The paper separating claw 50 and the regulating member 38 are arranged so that the force does not escape even if the regulating member 38 that regulates the movable range of the paper separating claw 50 is bent by the force received during paper feeding. When assembling the paper separating claw 50, for example, a snap structure is adopted so that the regulating member 38 bends, and the regulating member 38 is bent to avoid the paper separating claw 50 so that the paper separating claw 50 does not interfere with other members. The structure was made possible. The restricting member 38 is also formed in the shape and structure of the claw of the restricting member 38 so that the sheet separating claw 50 does not escape when the force is applied during paper feeding.

  As is clear from the above description, the sheet feeding tray of the present invention has a snap-fit structure for assembling members, and does not use any fastening with screws. Therefore, it can be easily assembled and disassembled.

  In addition, the sheet feeding tray of the present invention can be assembled from the same direction without changing the direction of the tray, including the entire assembly and disassembly process of the tray and the assembly of all members, including the assembly related to them. Consists of only members. Therefore, the assembly process is streamlined, and the work is easy even when performing operations and maintenance.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a sheet separation claw, a side guide, and an operation knob. It is a side view of a side guide. It is a top view of a paper separation nail. It is a side view of a paper separation claw. It is a side view of an operation knob. It is a rear view of an operation knob. It is a side view of another operation knob. It is AA arrow sectional drawing of FIG. It is BB arrow sectional drawing of FIG. It is CC sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is DD sectional view taken on the line of FIG. FIG. 6 is a side view illustrating a retracted state of a sheet separation claw. FIG. 6 is a side view illustrating a state in which a sheet separation claw is attached. FIG. 3 is an overall plan view of a paper feed tray. 2 is an overall side view of a paper feed tray. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Paper feed tray 10 Case 20 Paper stacking board 30 Side guide 31 Side wall 32 Protrusion 33 Mounting hole 35 Operation knob 36 Axis 37 Bending part 38 Snap (regulation member)
39 Claw 40 End Guide 50 Paper Separation Claw 51 Claw 52 Oscillation Center Hole 53 Oscillation Control Portion 54 Load 55, 56, 57 Arrow 60 Retarder Roll 70 Housing Insertion / Removal Handle Member

Claims (5)

In a paper feed tray having a side guide that regulates the side of the paper and a paper separating member that separates and discharges the paper one by one, between the side guide side wall and the operation knob for operating the side guide The paper separation member is formed into a paper separation claw having a claw for pressing the leading edge of the paper, and the paper separation claw moves up and down around a fulcrum of the paper separation claw. be one that swings in a direction, said supporting points, the paper feed tray, characterized in that form the shape in the axial integrally fitting the operating knob on the side wall of the side guide.   2. The paper feed tray according to claim 1, wherein snaps are arranged so that a force that the paper separation claw receives from the paper during paper feeding acts in a direction in which a snap fit of an operation knob used at the time of assembly is not removed. As a means to avoid the paper separation claw that becomes an obstacle when the paper stacking plate is assembled, a slit that elastically opens between the operation knob member and the side guide side wall and temporarily holds the paper separation claw in the retracted position. 2. The paper feed tray according to claim 1 , wherein a portion is formed. In order to satisfy the paper feeding performance, a member that restricts the movable range of the paper separation claw is provided, and this restriction member is also bent by elasticity so that the paper separation claw does not come into contact with other members during assembly. 2. The sheet feeding tray according to claim 1 , wherein the restricting member is bent to avoid the sheet separation claw.   5. The sheet feeding device according to claim 4, wherein the sheet separating claw and the regulating member are arranged so that the force does not escape even if the member regulating the movable range of the sheet separating claw is bent by a force received during paper feeding. Paper tray.

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