JP4554310B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to operability of a second image carrier in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus used for a copying machine, a facsimile machine, and a printer.

Conventionally, in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, when a user checks or replaces the second image carrier, there has been a problem during the detaching operation. That is, when removing the second image carrier from the main body frame, it is necessary for the user to remove the second image carrier after securely holding the handle for holding the second image carrier, but this condition is not necessarily guaranteed for the mechanism. In this case, there is a possibility that a defect such as the second image carrier dropping off may occur. Even when a stopper for preventing dropout is installed, the same problem remains when the stopper is damaged.
Further, in the case where the holding handle is stored in the second image carrier, the second image carrier may be dropped due to an erroneous operation by the user depending on the positional relationship of the handle at the time of the detachment operation. There were problems such as remaining.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a mechanism of a bearing portion that enables a user to easily replace a transfer roller or the like in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. However, the second image carrier attaching / detaching method of the present invention is a cartridge method, and the configuration is different.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-093940

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing a user's erroneous operation and detaching / attaching the second image carrier safely and reliably when the second image carrier is detached from the image forming apparatus main body. .

As means for solving the above problems, the present invention has the following features.
In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, a first image carrier that forms and carries a toner image, a second image carrier that carries a toner image formed by the first image carrier, and the second image carrier. And a recording medium transfer device for transferring a toner image carried on the image carrier to a recording medium, wherein the second image carrier is an endless belt, The cover is protected by a cover, and the second image carrier is detachable from the main body of the image forming apparatus, and a handle is provided on the cover. The handle includes a rotation support portion and the rotation support portion as a rotation shaft. The holding unit and the interference unit that can rotate about the rotation support unit as a rotation axis , the holding unit and the interference unit are provided separately on the rotation support unit, the upper portion of the cover , the housing portion for housing the holding portion is provided as a recess, Serial to user in a second state in which the image bearing member is to some extent pulled out of having the holding portion of the handle, when the holding portion is rotated as the rotation shaft of the rotation support portion, said interference portion is the The second image carrier can be pulled out from the image forming apparatus main body by turning in conjunction with the holding portion of the interference section so as to escape from the image forming apparatus main body, and the user can In a state where the handle is held, when the user releases his / her hand from the handle, the holder rotates about the rotation support portion as a rotation shaft and is automatically stored in the storage portion. The interference portion rotates in conjunction with the interference portion to interfere with the frame of the image forming apparatus main body, and the second image carrier cannot be pulled out from the image forming apparatus main body. you.
The image forming apparatus according to the present invention further includes a spring that connects the handle and the cover, and the interference portion is located at a position where the spring interferes with the image forming apparatus main body when the user releases the holding portion. It features to come automatically.
In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, a storage portion for storing the holding portion is further provided in the cover, and when the user releases the holding portion, the holding portion is automatically moved by the spring. It is stored in the storage unit.
The image forming apparatus of the present invention is further characterized in that when the user releases the holding unit, the holding unit is always stored in the storage unit by the spring.
In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, it is further characterized in that the interference part is located behind the holding part in the take-out direction of the second image carrier.
The image forming apparatus according to the present invention further includes a knob on the front side in the take-out direction of the second image carrier.

As described above, according to the means for solving the above problem, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, since the user cannot detach it without holding the handle of the second image carrier, the user can be assured. It is possible to perform holding, and it is possible to prevent problems such as prevention of dropping when the second image carrier is detached.
Furthermore, by having a plurality of handles for the second image carrier, it is possible to satisfy the functions of other handles even if one handle is incompletely functioning. The reliability can be improved.
Further, by adopting a configuration in which the handle of the second image carrier can be stored at all times, an operation such as storing the handle inside the second image carrier after the second image carrier is mounted on the main body. Therefore, it is possible to improve operability.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a second image carrier relating to the present invention .
The second image carrier is composed of an endless belt (no instruction in the figure) for holding a toner image, and has a cover 1 for protecting the endless belt. The cover 1 has a handle 2 and a handle 3 for the user to hold, and the handle 2 or the handle 3 can be stored in a handle storage portion 4 inside the cover 1. The second image carrier has a knob 5 and a knob 6 separately from the handle. When the knob 5 and the knob 6 are removed from the main body by the pull-out method, the knob 5 and the knob 6 are first grasped and the second image carrier is pulled out.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of a handle relating to the present invention .
The handle includes a rotation support portion 7 that can be housed in the cover, a holding portion 8 that is held by the user, and the holding portion 8 that includes an interference portion 9 that is positioned differently.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
When taking out the second image carrier from the inside of the main body frame 10, the knob 5 and the knob 6 of the second image carrier are first held and pulled out. When pulled out to a certain extent, the handle 2 and the handle 3 are in a state of being housed in the cover 1 (in the state of being taken out of the cover storage portion 4 in the figure), and the interference part 9 is directed upward in the figure. Become. If the handle 2 is pulled out while being housed in the cover, the interference portion 9 and the main body frame 10 interfere with each other, and the second image carrier cannot be pulled out. When the user lifts the holding portion 8 of the handles 2 and 3 to hold the handle 2 and the handle 3, the interference portion 9 is in a state of sleeping so as to escape from the main body, so that the second image carrier is located inside the main body frame 10. It can be pulled out from. Moreover, even if the handle 3 has the same configuration as the handle 2, it is possible to obtain the same effect, and even if a trouble occurs in the interference portion of either handle, the same effect can be obtained. is there.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
The handle has a spring hook 12 for hooking the spring 11, and the cover 1 of the second image carrier also has a spring hook. By hooking the spring 11 to the spring hook portion of the handle and the cover 1, the handle is always stored in the handle storing portion 4 (FIG. 3), and when the user releases the hand from the handle holding portion 8 , the handle automatically moves to the storing portion 4. It becomes the structure stored.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a second image carrier showing an embodiment of the present invention. It is a composition schematic diagram showing an example of a handle of the present invention. It is drawing for demonstrating the removal | desorption operation of the 2nd image carrier of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the rotation mechanism of the handle provided in the 2nd image carrier of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cover 2, 3 Handle 4 Storage part 5, 6 Knob part 7 Rotation support part 8 Holding part 9 Interference part 10 Main body frame 11 Spring 12 Spring hook

Claims (6)

A first image carrier that forms and carries a toner image, a second image carrier that carries a toner image formed by the first image carrier, and a second image carrier that carries the toner image. An image forming apparatus comprising: a recording medium transfer device that transfers a toner image to a recording medium;
The second image carrier is an endless belt, and the endless belt is protected by a cover;
The second image carrier is detachable from the image forming apparatus main body,
The cover is provided with a handle,
The handle includes a rotation support portion, a holding portion that can be rotated about the rotation support portion as a rotation axis, and an interference portion that can be rotated about the rotation support portion as a rotation axis. The holding portion and the interference portion are: Spaced apart on the rotation support,
On the upper part of the cover, a storage part for storing the holding part is provided as a recess,
Said user in a second state in which the image bearing member is to some extent pulled out of having the holding portion of the handle, when the holding portion is rotated as the rotation shaft of the rotation support portion, said interference portion is the The second image carrier can be pulled out from the image forming apparatus main body by turning in conjunction with the holding portion of the interference section so as to escape from the image forming apparatus main body,
In a state where the user holds the holding portion of the handle, when the user releases his hand from the holding portion of the handle, the holding portion rotates about the rotation support portion as a rotation axis and automatically Housed in the housing section, the interference section rotates in conjunction with the interference section and interferes with the frame of the image forming apparatus main body, and the second image carrier cannot be pulled out from the image forming apparatus main body. An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.
A spring connecting the handle and the cover;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the user releases the holding unit, the interference unit automatically comes to a position where the interference unit interferes with the main body of the image forming apparatus by the spring . The image forming apparatus according to claim 2.
A storage part for storing the holding part is provided in the cover, and when the user releases the holding part, the holding part is automatically stored in the storage part by the spring. Image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 .
An image forming apparatus , wherein when the user releases the holding unit, the holding unit is always stored in the storage unit by the spring . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the interference unit is located on the rear side in the take- out direction of the second image carrier with respect to the holding unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
An image forming apparatus comprising a knob on the front side in the take-out direction of the second image carrier .

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