JP4217136B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement in the structure of an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus having a reading unit and a structure that supports the reading unit.

Conventionally, an image forming apparatus having a reading unit and supporting the reading unit with a structure is known (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3).
JP 2002-229292 A JP-A-10-190976 JP-A-9-304987

However, in the disclosure of Patent Document 1, the flatness of the reading unit can be easily ensured without causing distortion or deformation of the reading unit, but adjustment work for ensuring the flatness is required. In the disclosure of Patent Document 2, the amount of deviation in flatness can be reduced and the adjustment time can be shortened, but adjustment work is required. In addition, in the disclosure of Patent Document 3, distortion and deformation due to the assembly accuracy of the support member and stress at the time of screwing can be prevented, but distortion and deformation with respect to the weight of the reading unit cannot be prevented.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a load supply device that supports the weight of the reading unit, thereby absorbing the weight of the reading unit, preventing distortion and deformation due to the weight of the reading unit, and supporting the weight of the reading unit in advance. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that eliminates the flatness adjustment work by setting a support member position by a load supply device using a sinking amount of a member as a correction amount.
Another object of the present invention is to enable adjustment of the load amount of the load supply device so that it can cope with variations in the reading unit weight and various reading units, and the support member position set by the load supply device is An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that prevents movement due to factors other than the weight of the reading unit when the reading unit is attached.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus having a reading unit and a structure that supports the reading unit. The structure includes a pair of left and right support members. Both ends are fixed to a pair of front and rear structural members, and one end of the other support member is pivotally supported on one structural member of the other front and rear pair of structural members so as to be pivotable in the vertical direction. The image forming apparatus includes a load supply device that supports the weight of the reading unit in the vertical direction.
Further, the present invention is a load of the load supply device and having an adjusting device which can be adjusted to any load.
Further, the present invention is characterized by having a one-way mechanism that pivotably direction is one direction.

According to the present invention, since the position of the support member according to the reading unit weight can be set in advance, distortion and deformation due to the reading unit weight can be prevented, and adjustment work for ensuring flatness can be eliminated.
In addition, it is possible to cope with variations in reading unit weight and various reading units, and it is possible to prevent the position of the support member from fluctuating due to factors other than the reading unit weight.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the image forming apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the image forming apparatus of FIG.
In this image forming apparatus, since the reading unit B is disposed on the apparatus main body A and the recording paper discharge section C is located below the reading unit B, the ejected recording paper can be easily taken out. In order to do so, it supports three points: two points on the right side and one point on the left side when viewed from the front.
1 and 2, the apparatus main body A is composed of a number of structural members 1 to 7, and the reading unit B is positioned in the vertical direction with the legs Ba to Bd, and the support member 10 on the apparatus main body side, 11 is arranged.
Of the structural members 1 to 7, reference numerals 1 and 2 are first structural members that are provided at both end portions of one side surface of the reading unit B and support both end portions of one side surface of the reading unit B. Reference numeral 4 denotes a second structural member provided at one end of the other side facing the one side of the reading unit.
The support member 10 is fixed with screws or the like to the structural members 1 and 2 extending vertically in the vicinity of both ends (positions 10a and 10b in the figure). On the other hand, as will be described later with reference to FIG. 3, the other support member 11 has its one end pivotally supported by the structural member 3.
FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a general structure proposed by, for example, Patent Document 1. In FIG. In order to mount the reading unit B on the apparatus main body A, as shown by an arrow Z in the figure, the support member 11 is rotated around a shaft 21 that is a pivot point of the support member 11 relative to the structural member 3.
Accordingly, the vertical position of the other end of the support member 11 is adjusted, thereby confirming that the flatness of the four installation surfaces (foot Ba to Bd) of the reading unit B is secured, and the fixing portion 11a of the support member 11 is confirmed. Is fixed to the structural member 3 with screws or the like.
In FIG. 3, the position of the supporting member 11 required when the reading unit B is mounted on the apparatus main body A must be in the flatness allowable region 30 in the drawing. It is necessary to adjust the position.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a portion of the structure illustrating the sinking region of the support member. Actually, as shown in FIG. 4, the position of the support member 11 may move within the range of the sink region 31 of the support member 11 due to the weight W of the reading unit B. They are forced to make adjustments and take time to make adjustments.
FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the sinking amount of the support member and the reading unit load. Generally, the sinking amount of the support member 11 with respect to the reading unit weight is as shown in FIG.
This is the relationship when the position of the support member 11 is set in the flatness tolerance region 30 and the reading unit B is mounted without rotating the rotating part 20 and the shaft 21 in FIG. However, the slope of the graph changes depending on the strength and rigidity of the support member 11.
FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a first example of a structure for explaining a sink correction region. Using the above relationship, the weight of the reading unit B is measured in advance, and the sinking amount of the support member 11 with respect to the weight is obtained.
As an example, the weight W of the reading unit B obtained as shown in FIG. 6 is a load that supports the load of the reading unit in the vertical direction about the spring shaft 22 (the shaft biased in the rotational direction). A supply device is provided, and the position of the support member 11 is set in advance using the sinking amount of the support member 11 as a sink correction region 32 in the drawing.
Thereby, when the reading unit B is mounted, the weight W of the reading unit B is absorbed by the spring shaft 22, and as a result, the position of the support member 11 comes from the sink correction region 32 to the flatness tolerance region 30. Flatness is ensured.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a second example of a structure for explaining a sink correction region. As another example, as shown in FIG. 7, the load supply device can be set like a correction spring (adjustment device = spring member) 23.
FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing a third example of a structure for explaining a sink correction region. The adjustment spring (spring member) 24 can set an arbitrary spring load, and has an adjustment mechanism that adjusts the amount of expansion and contraction of the spring, for example. It is also possible to set a necessary load by a combination of the load of the spring shaft 22 and the load of the adjustment spring 24.
FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing a fourth example of a structure for explaining a sink correction region. The one-way spring shaft (spring member) 25 shown in this figure can rotate only in one direction, while the spring shaft 22 in FIG. 6 can rotate in both directions. That is, the one-way spring shaft 25 is a shaft that allows rotation in one direction. However, such one-way rotation is not shown in the figure, but can be canceled by releasing the lock mechanism.

1 is an external perspective view of an image forming apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the image forming apparatus in FIG. 1. Schematic which shows the structure generally proposed by patent document 1, for example. Schematic of 1 part of the structure explaining the sinking area of a supporting member. The characteristic view which shows the relationship between the amount of sinking of a supporting member, and the reading unit load. Schematic which shows the 1st example of the structure explaining a sink correction area | region. Schematic which shows the 2nd example of the structure explaining a sink correction area | region. Schematic which shows the 3rd example of the structure explaining a sink correction area | region. Schematic which shows the 4th example of the structure explaining a sink correction area | region.

Explanation of symbols

A Device body (structure)
B reading unit 1 structure member 2 structure member 3 structure member 4 structure member 5 structure member 6 structure member 7 structure member 10 support member 11 support member 21 shaft 22 load supply device (spring shaft)
23 Adjustment device (Adjustment spring)
25 One-way mechanism (One-way spring shaft)

Claims (5)

In an image forming apparatus having a reading unit and a structure that supports the reading unit,
The structure is provided at both end portions of one side surface of the reading unit, supports a first structural member that supports both end portions of the one side surface of the reading unit, and one of the other side surfaces facing the one side surface of the reading unit. A second structural member provided at an end of the reading unit, and extending along the other side surface of the reading unit. One end of the second structural member is pivotally supported by the second structural member, and the other reading unit A support member for supporting the side surface part,
Image forming apparatus characterized by with supporting the weight of the unit read in the vertical direction about the axis, and a substantially a spring member for correcting horizontally an attitude of the reading unit by pushing up the reading unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the spring member is interposed between the second structural member and the support member and receives the weight of the reading unit .   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the spring member is a spring shaft that biases the support member in a direction in which the support member is rotated upward.   4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an adjusting device capable of adjusting a load of the spring member to an arbitrary load. 5.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the spring shaft is a one-way spring shaft having a one-way mechanism in which a rotatable direction is one direction.

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