JP4324026B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a sheet conveying equipment to pass the sheet material with an image formed by the image forming apparatus to another device.

  Some conventional sheet material conveying apparatuses open and close a guide in order to remove a sheet material (for example, Patent Document 1). The image forming apparatus shown in Patent Document 1 is provided with a relay conveyance unit that connects a paper discharge unit and a post-processing unit at the upper part of the apparatus main body, and a mail box as a sorting unit is attached to the upper part of the paper discharge unit. Yes. Of the trays in the mailbox, at least the tray closest to the relay conveyance means is provided so as to be rotatable in the vertical direction with the lower limit position regulated. Further, the transport cover of the relay transport means is rotatably provided by the support shaft, and when the transport cover is opened, the tray is also retracted to secure a sufficient jam processing space.

  Also, there is a sheet material that can be stacked on the upper surface of the sheet material conveying apparatus (for example, Patent Document 2). In the image forming apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2, a sheet feeding unit is provided below the image forming unit in the apparatus main body, a sheet discharge unit is provided above, and a substantially vertical sheet path P is formed. A post-processing device is mounted on a side surface of the apparatus main body, and the post-processing apparatus and the paper discharge unit are provided along the upper surface of the apparatus main body and are a sheet material conveyance unit having a unique sheet path and a conveyance function. Have been contacted.

In addition, there is one in which a gap between the opening and closing guides of the sheet conveying apparatus is closed with a flexible member (for example, Patent Document 3). In the apparatus described in Patent Document 3, a rotation allowance gap is provided in the paper delivery portion, and the paper discharge tray extension as the upper surface cover of the post-processing means and the upper surface cover of the relay conveying means facilitate the jam processing. In order to do so, it is provided so as to be rotatable. In addition, an upper guide plate and a lower guide plate are provided to facilitate delivery of the paper. The rotation-permissible gap is covered with a sponge over the entire area, and the sponge is stuck and fixed to the upper guide plate.
JP-A-9-301602 JP-A-10-69137 JP-A-11-157726

  In order to connect another device such as a post-processing device and improve productivity, the discharge port serves as a relay transport device that receives the sheet material from the discharge port of the image forming apparatus and transports the sheet material to a different device such as a post-processing device. In many cases, the system is mounted in the vicinity, the document reading device is mounted on the upper portion, and the relay conveyance device is mounted on the discharge tray disposed on the upper surface of the image forming apparatus. At that time, when a jam occurs in the relay conveyance device due to a narrow space between the document reading device and the jam, the space between the document reading device and the image forming device must be operated from the side. Don't be.

  On the other hand, when the document reading device is not mounted, the jam handling operation of the sheet material conveying device is preferably performed from above because there is sufficient space above. Depending on whether or not the document reading device is mounted, the optimum jam handling operation direction differs, so either one of the jam handling operability must be sacrificed or a relay conveyance device must be prepared for each.

In order to solve the above-described problem, in the present invention, an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet material, a discharge unit that discharges the image-formed sheet material to a tray provided on an upper portion of the apparatus main body, An image forming apparatus comprising: a sheet material conveying device mounted on an upper portion so as to cover the tray and coupled to the discharging unit, wherein the sheet material conveying device conveys the sheet discharged from the discharging unit to a different device. A device,
The sheet material conveying device includes a pair of conveying guides that convey the sheet material therebetween so that the one conveying guide can be opened, and the one conveying guide includes a plurality of divided conveying guides divided in a conveying direction, When a document reading device that reads an image of a document is arranged above the sheet material conveying device, each of the divided conveyance guides is rotated. When the document reading apparatus is not disposed, a guide support member that can be selectively attached to the one conveyance guide is attached so as to straddle the plurality of division conveyance guides. It is characterized in that the two are coupled so as to be in an integral state in which rotation at the connecting portion is impossible .

If the document reading device above the conveyance device is mounted, or even when it is fixedly disposed, so openable one conveying guide is bent so that it can also open the delivery path from the connecting portion of the divided conveying guide each other A plurality of rotation fulcrums for opening the conveyance guide are provided, and the sheet material removal access space from the lateral direction can be more effectively or maximized.

  If one of the openable transport guides is rotatable about the upstream end in the transport direction, the downstream transport path is opened with the upstream end as the center of rotation, and further downstream of the transport guide. Further, a part of the downstream side of the conveyance guide can be further rotated in a divided manner (bent) with the connecting portion between the divided conveyance guides provided at the center. Thereby, the sheet material removal access space from the lateral direction can be secured to the maximum.

  In addition, when the document reading device is not mounted or is not fixedly arranged, by attaching a guide support member, the conveyance guide rotates integrally without being divided, and sheet material removal access from above is possible. To do.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional configuration diagram illustrating an example in which a sheet material conveying device to which the present invention is applied is mounted on an image forming apparatus such as a printer and a document reading device is mounted on the upper side. The image forming apparatus A as the apparatus main body includes four types of detachable process cartridges 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d of different toner colors, for example, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. These process cartridges 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d are provided with electrophotographic photosensitive drums 3a, 3b, 3c and 3d, respectively, which are image carriers. Further, each process cartridge has charging means 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d for charging the surface, developing means 5a, 5b, 5c and 5d for forming an image with toner on the photosensitive drum, and residual after transfer. Cleaning means 6a, 6b, 6c, and 6d for removing toner are provided.

The primary transfer rollers 8 a and 8 disposed on the back surface of the intermediate transfer belt 8 are irradiated with laser light from the scanner unit 7 and the toner images formed on the photosensitive drums 3 a, 3 b, 3 c and 3 d are disposed on the back surface of the intermediate transfer belt 8.
The toner image is transferred onto the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 8 by b, 8c, and 8d. The same process is sequentially performed on the downstream process cartridges 2b, 2c, and 2d, and the toner image on the surface of each photosensitive drum is transferred to the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 8 provided facing the photosensitive drum, and the toner on the photosensitive drum of each color. By sequentially completing the primary transfer of the image, a full-color image is formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 8.

  The sheet material P stored in the sheet material cassette 11 is separated and fed one by one by a separating means having a pickup roller 9 and is sent out. The fed sheet material P is conveyed to the image forming unit by the conveying roller pair 10 to form a predetermined image.

  The sheet material P separated and fed one by one from the sheet cassette 11 is synchronized with the full color image formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 8 by the registration roller unit 12 at a timing synchronized with the intermediate transfer belt 8 and the secondary transfer roller 13. Into the image forming unit. In order to transfer the toner image on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 8 to the sheet material P, the sheet material P sent from the sheet material cassette 11 is pressed onto the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 8 and a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the charged toner image is applied. As a result, the toner image is transferred to the sheet material P, and a desired image is printed on the upper surface of the sheet material P.

  Further, a fixing unit 14 for fixing the toner image transferred onto the sheet material P to the sheet material P is provided downstream of the image forming unit. The toner image is fixed to the sheet material P by passing the sheet material P after the image transfer is passed through a fixing unit 14 having a heating element. The sheet material P on which the image has been fixed is discharged out of the apparatus by a discharge roller 20 disposed at a discharge port 20a to the outside of the apparatus, and is stacked on a stacking tray 21 on the upper surface of the image forming apparatus A.

  When post-processing such as stapling is performed on the sheet material on which the image is formed, the sheet material P discharged from the discharge port 20a of the image forming apparatus A is transferred to the post-processing apparatus B, and the post-processing is performed. .

  At that time, when the image formation on the sheet material P and the post-processing are performed on-line, the post-processing apparatus B is arranged side by side with the image forming apparatus A. Then, a relay conveyance device C that connects the discharge port 20a of the image forming apparatus A and a receiving conveyance port (not shown) of the post-processing apparatus B (continues as a conveyance path) is mounted on the upper surface of the image forming apparatus A.

  In this way, the relay conveyance device C that receives the sheet material P from the discharge port 20a above the image forming apparatus A is mounted so as to cover the stacking tray 21, and the sheet material P is conveyed to the post-processing device B. Then hand it over. In this case, since the stacking tray 21 is covered with the relay conveyance device C, the stacking tray 21 cannot be used. In the present embodiment, the relay conveyance device C is described as serving as a sheet delivery between the image forming apparatus A and the post-processing apparatus B. However, the present invention is not limited to this. This is also effective when delivering sheets between image forming apparatuses.

  The relay conveyance device C includes an upper conveyance guide 301 and a lower conveyance guide 302 that sandwich the sheet material P therebetween. As shown in FIG. 1, the upper conveyance guide 301 is rotatable around a fixed fulcrum (first hinge portion) 31 on the upstream side. The fulcrum 31 is provided near the discharge roller 20 and on the downstream side of the discharge roller 20. The fulcrum 31 is supported by the lower conveyance guide 302. Thereby, in the case of the operation | work which removes the sheet material P in the relay conveyance apparatus C, the removal operation | work of the sheet material P can be performed in the state which rotationally operated the upper conveyance guide 301 and opened the conveyance path. In the present embodiment, the upper conveyance guide 301 is described as being rotatable about the fixed fulcrum (first hinge part) 31 on the upstream side. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, The present invention can also be applied to a conveyance guide that is rotatable about a fixed fulcrum on the downstream side.

  Further, the upper conveyance guide 301 is divided into a first divided conveyance guide 30a and a second divided conveyance guide 30b, which are connected by a fulcrum (second hinge portion) 32 as a connection portion. That is, the first divided conveyance guide 30 a and the second divided conveyance guide 30 b are hinged to each other via the fulcrum 32. The first divided conveyance guide 30 a is hinged to the lower conveyance guide 302 via a fulcrum 31. Therefore, both the first divided conveyance guide 30a and the second divided conveyance guide 30b can rotate around the fulcrum 32. As a result, as shown in FIG. 1, when the document reading device E is mounted, the first divided conveyance guide 30a rotates around the fulcrum 31 and stands up, and the second divided conveyance guide 30b By rotating to the conveyance path side, it can be substantially parallel to the lower part of the document reading device E.

  FIG. 2 is a view of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment as viewed from the left side. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the upper conveyance guide 301 is opened to remove the sheet material P of the relay conveyance device C in FIG. 1, and access is made from the side of the relay conveyance device C as indicated by a white arrow in FIG. 2. (In FIG. 1, it is from the front side of the page.)

  As described above, the space between the lower surface of the document reading device E and the upper surface of the image forming apparatus A can be utilized to the maximum extent as a jam processing space.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a sheet material removing operation when the document reading device E is not mounted. On the upper surface of the conveyance guide 301 of the relay conveyance device C, a guide support member 33 is attached by fastening means such as screws so as to straddle the two divided conveyance guides 30a and 30b. When the guide support member 33 is attached in this manner, the pivot at the fulcrum 32 cannot be performed, so that the divided conveyance guide 30a and the divided conveyance guide 30b are integrated. The guide support member 33 is provided with a handle 34 for opening and closing the conveyance guide 301. By operating this handle 34, the divided conveyance guides 30a and 30b rotate integrally around the fulcrum 31. become.

  When the document reading device E is not mounted, the access from the top is best as shown by the white arrow in FIG. 3, and in this case, as shown in FIG. Opening and closing operations are most suitable.

  As described above, when the document reading device E is mounted by dividing the upper conveyance guide 301 of the relay conveyance device C and selecting whether or not the guide support member 33 is attached to the upper surface thereof, the document reading device In any case where E is not mounted, the maximum sheet material removal space can be secured while using the same relay conveyance device C. Of course, the same effect can be obtained even if the document reader E is fixedly arranged.

  Next, a method for attaching the guide support member 33 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. The protrusions 36 of the guide support member 33 are respectively inserted into the grooves 35 formed in the key shape of the divided conveyance guides 30a and 30b as shown by arrows in FIG. 4, and are inserted into the key-shaped grooves 35 as shown in FIG. The protrusion of the guide support member 33 is fitted. Thereafter, a measure for not shifting in the horizontal direction is performed (not shown).

In the present embodiment, the guide support member 33 located at the upper part of the relay conveyance device C also serves as a sheet material stacking tray (see FIG. 3). If the relay conveyance device C is mounted so as to cover the stacking tray 21, the stacking tray 21 cannot be used. Therefore, even if post-processing of the sheet material P is not required, post-processing is performed via the relay conveyance device C. It must be transported to apparatus B and discharged to the stacking section of post-processing apparatus B. Therefore, if the reversing control of the switchback discharge roller 23 of the reversing device D for duplex printing is not applied, the sheet material P that does not require post-processing can be discharged and stacked on the upper portion of the relay conveying device C. The printout time can be shortened by the conveyance time to the discharge device. Considering this point, the upper surface of the guide support member 33 is formed with a curved surface that can smoothly guide the sheet material P discharged from the switchback discharge roller 23 of the reversing device D onto the guide support member 33. Reference numeral 22 denotes a conveyance path switching means.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 3, when the document reading device E is not mounted, there is sufficient access space from above the relay conveyance device C, so there is no problem in accessing the stacked sheet material.

  Further, the conveyance guide 301 rotates at the fulcrum 31 on the upstream side and takes a trajectory for opening the conveyance path on the downstream side, so that the sheet material P to be switched back is engaged with the switchback discharge roller 23 and the machine Even if it is exposed to the outside, the sheet material that is stopped during temporary discharge is not cut or buckled.

  As described above, according to the present invention, since there is a printer that can be used as a jam processing space on the upper side and an original reading device, an MFP (multi-function MFP) that has only a jam processing space by a lateral access that cannot be accessed from above. Even if the jam access space is different, such as a printer), it is possible to cope with both by simply selecting whether the conveyance guide 301 is divided and rotated, or the guide support member 33 is attached and rotated and opened integrally. Can be used.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining an image forming apparatus equipped with a document reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a left side view of an image forming apparatus equipped with a document reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining an image forming apparatus not equipped with a document reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is sectional drawing for demonstrating attachment of the guide support member which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing for demonstrating attachment of the guide support member which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

A Image forming apparatus B Post-processing apparatus (separate device)
C relay conveyance device D switchback unit E document reading device 20 discharge roller 21 stacking tray 22 conveyance path switching means 23 second discharge roller (reversing roller)
24 reverse conveyance path 30a division conveyance guide 30b division conveyance guide 301 upper conveyance guide 302 lower conveyance guide 31 first fulcrum 32 second fulcrum 33 guide support member

Claims (5)

An image forming unit for forming an image on a sheet material;
A discharge unit for discharging the image-formed sheet material to a tray provided at the top of the apparatus main body;
A sheet material conveying device mounted on an upper portion of the apparatus main body so as to cover the tray, and connected to the discharge unit, and the sheet discharged from the discharge unit is transferred to a different device by the sheet material conveying device. An image forming apparatus for conveying,
The sheet material conveying device is provided so that one of the conveying guide pairs that convey the sheet material in between can be opened.
The one conveyance guide has a plurality of division conveyance guides divided in the conveyance direction, and a connecting portion that rotatably connects the division conveyance guides.
When a document reading device that reads an image of a document is arranged above the sheet material transport device, each divided transport guide can be rotated,
When the document reading device is not arranged, a guide support member that can be selectively attached to the one conveyance guide is attached so as to straddle the plurality of division conveyance guides , whereby each of the division conveyance guides can be separated. An image forming apparatus, wherein the connecting portions are coupled so as to be in an integral state in which rotation at the connecting portion is impossible .   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one conveyance guide is rotatable about an upstream end in a conveyance direction.     The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide support member is mounted on the one conveyance guide, and an upper surface of the guide support member also serves as a stacking tray of sheet materials discharged by the discharge unit. .     The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide support member includes a handle for opening and closing the transport guide in a state where the guide support member is mounted on the openable transport guide. . 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a post-processing device that is connected to the sheet material conveying device and performs processing on the image-formed sheet material as the different device. .

Images