JP5352718B2 - Image reading apparatus and image forming apparatus having the same - Google Patents

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus used for a digital copying machine, an image scanner, and the like, for scanning and reading an original, and an image forming apparatus including the image reading apparatus. It relates to the device.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image reading apparatus mounted on a multifunction machine or the like using an electrophotographic process, a sheet-like document is sequentially fed to a document placing table (image reading unit) and discharged from the document placing table after the reading is completed. Some document feeders (Automatic Document Feeders) are provided. In such an image reading apparatus, a sheet-through method in which a document is automatically conveyed and read by a document conveying device while the document press is closed, and the document press is opened and closed each time reading is performed on a document placement table (contact glass). Two types of reading methods are possible: a document fixing method in which the original is replaced one by one and the optical system (scanning means) is moved to read the original. In the former sheet-through method, the optical system in the image reading apparatus is scanned and moved while being held at a predetermined image reading position. On the other hand, in the latter document fixing method, A reading operation is performed while the optical system scans and moves.

  In an image reading apparatus provided with such a sheet-through method, when a document is conveyed obliquely with respect to the image reading position, the read image is also inclined. Accordingly, various methods for adjusting the inclination of the document conveying direction of the document conveying device with respect to the image reading device main body have been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a first attachment portion that couples the document conveying device to the image reading device main body. Disclosed is an image reading apparatus in which a document conveying device is coupled so as to be displaceable, and is rotatably coupled by a second mounting portion, and is provided with a fixing means for fixing the document conveying device at a position where the first mounting portion is displaced. Has been.

  In Patent Document 2, an adjustment bolt for adjusting the inclination of the document conveying device is provided at one of the two hinge portions that support the document conveying device, and the operation head of the adjustment bolt is arranged on the front side of the hinge portion. An original processing apparatus is disclosed. Further, in Patent Document 3, an openable / closable stay is provided on the document reading unit, and the transport unit is rotatably attached to the stay, and a positioning mechanism is provided at the rotational end of the transport unit to provide a stay for the transport unit. An image processing apparatus capable of adjusting the inclination with respect to is disclosed.

JP-A-11-261742 JP 7-219288 A JP 2002-44368 A

  However, in the method of Patent Document 1, it is necessary to loosen a screw for fixing the hinge portion and adjust the inclination of the document conveying apparatus with respect to the image reading apparatus main body, and then fasten the screw again. Needed tools.

  On the other hand, in the method of Patent Document 2, manual operation is possible by applying knurling to the operation head of the adjustment bolt, but in order to fix the position after adjustment, it is necessary to fasten a loosening prevention nut, Position adjustment work was not easy. Further, Patent Document 3 does not particularly describe a method for fixing the adjusted position of the transport unit. Further, since a stay is interposed between the transport unit and the document reading unit, the number of parts and assembly can be reduced. There was also a problem that man-hours increased.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention provides an image reading apparatus that can easily adjust the inclination of the document conveying device and can easily and reliably fix the position after the adjustment, and an image forming apparatus including the image reading apparatus. For the purpose.

  To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a contact glass for placing a document, a document transport device that can be opened and closed upward with respect to the contact glass, and transports the document to the upper surface of the contact glass, and the contact An image reading unit provided at a lower portion of the glass and reading a document image placed on the contact glass or a document image conveyed to an image reading position by the document conveying device; and the document conveying device as the image reading unit. An image reading apparatus comprising a pair of hinge portions that are rotatably held with respect to the hinge, wherein at least one of the hinge portions is a hinge base supported by the image reading portion, and the hinge base is turned. A first hinge member coupled to the first hinge member and supported by the first hinge member so as to be slidable in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis; A second hinge member, a lever that presses or releases the second hinge member against the first hinge member, and a state in which the second hinge member is released by the lever. A position adjusting mechanism including a gear mechanism that slides the second hinge member relative to the first hinge member and a handle that rotates the gear mechanism, and the lever presses the second hinge member. In this state, the operation area of the handle is covered, and the operation area of the handle is released in a state where the pressing of the second hinge member is released.

  According to the present invention, in the image reading apparatus configured as described above, the gear mechanism includes a rack fixed to the second hinge member, and a worm gear rotatably supported by the first hinge member and meshing with the rack. It is characterized by that.

  According to the present invention, in the image reading apparatus having the above-described configuration, the lever is rotatably supported by a rotating shaft having a predetermined interval between the lever and the second hinge member, and the rotating shaft extends from the outer peripheral surface to the outer peripheral surface. A cam portion whose outer diameter changes is provided, and a large-diameter portion having an outer diameter larger than an interval between the second hinge member and the rotating shaft is formed in the cam portion.

  According to the present invention, in the image reading apparatus configured as described above, the lever and the handle can be operated from above the contact glass.

  According to the present invention, in the image reading apparatus having the above-described configuration, a detection pattern is provided in a portion of the document conveying device facing the image reading position, and the image reading unit reads the detection pattern to read the detection pattern. It is characterized by detecting the inclination of the document conveying device.

  The present invention also provides an image forming apparatus equipped with the image reading apparatus having the above-described configuration.

  According to the first configuration of the present invention, the lever is operated to release the pressing of the second hinge member and the handle is operated, thereby easily tilting the document conveying device with respect to the image reading unit without using a tool or the like. Can be adjusted. Further, after the adjustment, the document conveying apparatus can be reliably positioned at the adjusted position by operating the lever to press the second hinge member. When the second hinge member is pressed, the lever covers the handle operating area, and when the second hinge member is released, the lever opens the handle operating area, thereby pressing the second hinge member. In this state, it is difficult to operate the handle, so that an erroneous operation of the handle can be prevented.

  According to the second configuration of the present invention, in the image reading apparatus having the first configuration, the gear mechanism is configured by the rack and the worm gear meshing with the rack, thereby reducing the backlash caused by the gear backlash. can do. Therefore, the inclination of the document conveying device with respect to the image reading unit can be adjusted with high accuracy.

  According to the third configuration of the present invention, in the image reading apparatus having the first or second configuration, the second hinge member is moved by rotating the lever to press the large diameter portion against the second hinge member. The first hinge member can be pressed, and the lever can be reversely rotated to retreat the large diameter portion from the second hinge member, thereby releasing the second hinge member. Therefore, the second hinge member can be pressed or released from the first hinge member with a simple configuration and operation.

  According to the fourth configuration of the present invention, in the image reading device having any one of the first to third configurations, the lever and the handle can be operated from above the contact glass. Since the lever and handle can be easily operated from the front side of the mounted image reading device, there is no need to work around the image forming device behind or to the side when adjusting the tilt of the document feeder. Will improve.

  According to the fifth configuration of the present invention, in the image reading apparatus having any one of the first to fourth configurations, the detection pattern provided in the portion facing the image reading position of the document conveying device is an image. By detecting the inclination of the document conveying device by reading the reading unit, the inclination of the document conveying means can be detected quickly and accurately without opening the document conveying device and without actually conveying the document. it can.

  Further, according to the sixth configuration of the present invention, by mounting the image reading device having any one of the first to fifth configurations, the reading failure due to the inclination of the document conveying device and the image failure caused by the reading failure can be prevented. The image forming apparatus can be prevented with a simple configuration and has excellent operability.

1 is a side sectional view showing an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus including an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an external perspective view of a document conveying device of an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed from below. 1 is a side sectional view of the vicinity of a hinge portion of an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a side cross-sectional view showing an internal structure of a document conveying device of an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Side surface sectional drawing which shows the internal structure of the image reading part of the image reading apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a hinge portion (right hinge portion 80a as viewed from the front of the image forming apparatus 100) of an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, viewed from the back side. Side view of hinge part 80a as viewed from the left front side of FIG. The front view which looked at the hinge part 80a from the rotation side (left side of FIG. 7) The top view which looked at hinge part 80a from the upper part Side sectional view of hinge part 80a (AA 'arrow sectional view of FIG. 9) The top view which shows the state which exposed the lever 97 of the position adjustment mechanism 90 The perspective view of the hinge part 80a which shows the state which pulled up the lever 97 and released the press of the 2nd hinge member 87

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus including an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, in an image forming apparatus 100 (here, a digital multifunction peripheral is shown as an example), when performing a copy operation, image data of a document is read and converted into an image signal by an image reading unit 6 described later. On the other hand, in the image forming unit 3 in the multifunction machine main body 2, the photosensitive drum 5 rotating in the direction A in the drawing is uniformly charged by the charging unit 4, and is based on the document image data read by the image reading unit 6. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 5 by a laser beam from an exposure unit (laser scanning unit or the like) 7, and a developer (hereinafter referred to as toner) is attached to the electrostatic latent image by the developing unit 8. An image is formed. The toner is supplied to the developing unit 8 from the toner container 9.

  The sheet is conveyed from the sheet feeding mechanism 10 to the image forming unit 3 via the sheet conveying path 11 and the registration roller pair 12 toward the photosensitive drum 5 on which the toner image is formed as described above. 3, the toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 5 is transferred to the sheet by the transfer roller 13 (image transfer unit). The sheet onto which the toner image has been transferred is separated from the photosensitive drum 5 and conveyed to a fixing unit 14 having a fixing roller pair 14a to fix the toner image. The paper that has passed through the fixing unit 14 is sent to a paper conveyance path 15 that branches in a plurality of directions, and is fed by a path switching mechanism 21, 22 having a plurality of path switching guides provided at branch points of the paper conveyance path 15. The transport directions are sorted, and the sheets are discharged as they are (or after being sent to the sheet transport path 16 and double-sided copying) to the sheet discharge section including the first discharge tray 17a and the second discharge tray 17b.

  Although not shown, a static elimination device that removes residual charges on the surface of the photosensitive drum 5 is provided on the downstream side of the cleaning device 18. Further, the paper feed mechanism 10 is detachably attached to the multifunction machine main body 2 and includes a plurality of paper feed cassettes 10a and 10b for storing paper, and a stack bypass (manual feed tray) 10c provided above the paper feed cassettes 10a and 10b. These are connected to the image forming unit 3 including the photosensitive drum 5 and the developing unit 8 by the paper transport path 11.

  An image reading unit 6 is disposed on the upper part of the apparatus main body, and a platen (document pressing unit) that holds and holds a document placed on the contact glass 25 (see FIG. 4) of the image reading unit 6 on the upper surface of the apparatus main body. ) 24 is provided so as to be openable and closable, and a document conveying device 27 is provided on the platen 24. The image reading unit 6 and the document conveying device 27 constitute an image reading device 28.

  Specifically, the sheet conveyance path 15 first branches into a left and right fork on the downstream side of the fixing roller pair 14a, and one path (a path branching rightward in FIG. 1) communicates with the first discharge tray 17a. It is configured as follows. The other path (the path that branches in the left direction in FIG. 1) is bifurcated via the conveying roller pair 19, and the other path (the path that branches in the left direction in FIG. 1) is the second discharge tray 17b. It is comprised so that it may communicate with. On the other hand, the other path (the path that branches downward in FIG. 1) is configured to communicate with the sheet conveyance path 16.

  FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the document conveying device mounted on the image reading apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention as viewed from below. The document transport device 27 includes a document feed tray 29 having a document guide 29 a for aligning and stacking a plurality of documents, and a reverse tray 30 (see FIG. 4) provided below the document feed tray 29. The document feeding tray 29 and the reversing tray 30 are each mounted on the frame of the document conveying device 27.

  Further, the cover member 31 is supported so as to be openable and closable with one end (lower left in the figure) as a rotation fulcrum with respect to the frame of the document conveying device 27. By opening the cover member 31, the document conveying path d (see FIG. 4). The jam can be processed. A document discharge tray 32 is formed directly on a part of the upper surface of the platen 24 on the side of the cover member 31. The platen 24 is rotatably supported at one end of the upper surface of the image reading unit 6 by two hinge portions 80a and 80b, and hinge legs 81 are attached to the lower portions of the hinge portions 80a and 80b.

  On the back surface of the platen 24, there is provided a document mat 24a that covers and holds substantially the entire surface of the document placed on the contact glass 25 (see FIG. 4). The original mat 24 a is normally formed of a sheet member and sponge or the like, and is compressed by the load of the platen 24 to securely hold the original on the contact glass 25.

  FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a configuration around the hinge portion of the document conveying device. In FIG. 3, the document conveying device 27 is configured to be rotatable with respect to the main body of the image reading unit 6 from the open posture 27 a to the closed posture 27 b around the rotation fulcrum 82 of the hinge portions 80 a and 80 b. ing. In addition, the detailed structure of the rotation part of hinge part 80a, 80b is mentioned later.

  The hinge portions 80a and 80b are provided with hinge legs 81 provided at the lower portions of the hinge portions 80a and 80b when a thick document such as a book is placed on the contact glass 25 and the document conveying device 27 is closed. The rear side guide surface 73a, the side guide surface 73b, and the bearings 74a and 74b are configured not to move in the horizontal direction but to move in the vertical direction. In the longitudinal direction of the apparatus (left and right direction in FIG. 3) that receives a large load due to the moment due to the weight of the document conveying apparatus 27, the hinges 80a and 80b can be smoothly moved up and down by being guided by the bearings 74a and 74b. I have to.

  FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing the internal structure of the document feeder. In the cover member 31, a document transport path d from the document feed tray 29 to the document discharge tray 32 is formed, and along the document transport path d, a pickup roller 33, a paper feed belt 34, a separation roller 35, a resist An original conveying member including a roller pair 36, conveying roller pairs 37, 38, 39, and 40, a CIS roller 41, a reverse roller pair 42, a discharge roller pair 43, and the like is provided.

  The paper feed belt 34 is wound around a driving roller 44a and a driven roller 44b, and a separation roller 35 is in contact with the roller at a predetermined pressure from below. The separation roller 35 has a built-in torque limiter, which rotates in the opposite direction to the paper feed belt 34 only when the rotational load is lower than a predetermined torque, and is driven to rotate with the paper feed belt 34 when the rotational load exceeds a predetermined torque. It is supposed to be. Above the pickup roller 33, an upper surface detection sensor 50 for detecting the upper surface position of the document is disposed.

  The contact glass 25 includes an automatic reading glass 25a and a manually placed original glass 25b. A white reference plate for shading correction disposed opposite to the automatic reading glass 25a, and a white reference plate above the white reference plate. A document pressing portion (none of which is shown) for pressing the reference plate toward the automatic reading glass 25a is provided. The document conveyance path d is curved so as to be reversed between the registration roller pair 36 and the automatic reading glass 25a. A plurality of paper detection sensors including a paper feed sensor S1 and a discharge sensor S2 for detecting the presence / absence or passage of a document are provided at appropriate positions on the document conveyance path d.

  Next, a sheet-through type document conveying operation using the document conveying device 27 will be described. In the sheet-through method, after a plurality of documents are set on the document feed tray 29 with the image surface facing upward, the copy start button on the operation panel (display unit) 75 (see FIG. 1) of the image forming apparatus 100 is turned on. Then, the lift plate 45 lifted by the lifting mechanism (not shown) pushes up the pickup roller 33 through the document, and the weight of the frame (not shown) including the pickup roller 33 is added to the lift plate 45. As a result, the upper surface of the document is pressed against the pickup roller 33 with a predetermined pressure (feed pressure).

  Here, the pickup roller 33, the drive roller 44a, the driven roller 44b, and the paper feed belt 34 are arranged in a frame not shown. The pickup roller 33 is connected to a drive roller 44a through a gear (not shown). When the drive roller 44a is rotated by a roller drive motor (not shown), the pickup roller 33 is stretched between the drive roller 44a and the driven roller 44b. The paper belt 34 is driven to rotate, and the pickup roller 33 is also driven to rotate.

  The document set on the document feed tray 29 is usually fed to the nip portion between the feed belt 34 and the separation roller 35 by a pickup roller 33. Only the uppermost one of the plurality of documents is separated by the separation roller 35 and conveyed toward the registration roller pair 36. At that time, after the leading edge of the document is detected by the sheet feed sensor S1, the document is conveyed by a predetermined distance, and then the rotation drive of the pickup roller 33 and the sheet feed belt 34 is stopped by stopping the operation of the roller drive motor. Paper feeding ends. The document that has been primarily fed is stopped in a state where the leading end of the document is bent at the nip portion of the registration roller pair 36.

  Secondary feeding is started after a predetermined time has elapsed since the completion of primary feeding. That is, the registration roller pair 36 is rotationally driven by the operation of a secondary paper feed drive motor (not shown). The original is conveyed by the registration roller pair 36, the conveyance roller pairs 37 to 39, and the CIS roller 41 through the automatic reading glass 25a toward the discharge roller pair 43, and finally the original is discharged by the discharge roller pair 43. It is discharged onto the tray 32. At this time, the completion of image reading of one original is detected by detecting passage of the rear end of the original by the discharge sensor S2.

  Here, the discharge sensor S2 has a count function for counting the number of documents every time the document conveyance is completed. If the paper feed sensor S1 detects a subsequent document, the second and subsequent document conveyance is performed as described above. Will continue as well. When the original passes through the automatic reading glass 25a, the original is conveyed while being lightly pressed toward the automatic reading glass 25a from above by coming into contact with the conveyance guide 53, and an image of the original is automatically read glass. The image is read by the image reading unit 6 (see FIG. 1) through 25a.

  When reading a double-sided document, a contact image sensor 51 provided opposite to the CIS roller 41 reads an image on the back side of the document, and an automatic reading glass 25a reads an image on the surface of the document. After reading the image on the surface of the document with the reading glass 25a, the document is distributed to the reversing tray 30 by the branching claws 47a, 47b and 47c, the reversing roller pair 42 is reversed, and again with the back side of the document facing up. There is a two-stage reading method in which the image is conveyed to the upstream side of the registration roller pair 36 and the image on the back side of the document is read by the automatic reading glass 25a.

  Reading by the contact image sensor 51 can shorten the reading time, but is inferior in image quality as compared with reading by the automatic reading glass 25a. For this reason, a one-step reading method using the contact image sensor 51 is used for text originals, and a two-step reading method using the reversing tray 30 is used when high-quality and high-definition reading is required for photo originals. It is preferable.

  When the two-stage reading method is used, when the original after reading is sequentially discharged to the original discharge tray 32 as it is, the discharged original is stacked with the reverse side of the state set on the original feed tray 29. It will be. Therefore, after the image on the back side of the document is read by the automatic reading glass 25 a, the branching claws 47 a to 47 c are swung to introduce the document again onto the reverse tray 30, and the pair of conveyance rollers 40 and the discharge roller pair 43 are used. The document is discharged to the document discharge tray 32. As a result, the front and back of each document are reversed again before being discharged, so that they can be stacked on the document discharge tray 32 while maintaining the state of being set on the document feed tray 29.

  Next, the configuration of the image reading unit 6 for reading an image of a document as an electric signal will be described. FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing the internal structure of the image reading apparatus according to this embodiment. In the frame 6a of the image reading unit 6, a lamp (light source) 61 for irradiating light toward the image surface of the document, and a reflecting plate 62 for efficiently applying light from the lamp 61 to the image surface of the document. The first mirror 63 that directly receives and reflects the original reflected light, the second mirror 64 that receives and reflects the reflected light from the first mirror 63, and the reflected light that is received from the second mirror 64 and reflected. A third mirror 65 is disposed.

  Further, a lens barrel 66 holding a lens group (not shown) for introducing and collecting the reflected light from the third mirror 65, and the original reflected light collected by the lens group of the lens barrel 66 are received. A line-type CCD (photoelectric conversion member) sensor 67 having a photoelectric conversion element for converting it into an electrical signal is disposed on the base plate 70. The optical path of the original reflected light is indicated by a one-dot chain line.

  Here, the lamp 61, the reflector 62 and the first mirror 63 are integrally fixed on the first carriage 68, and the second mirror 64 and the third mirror 65 are integrally fixed on the second carriage 69. ing. These first and second carriages 68 and 69 constitute scanning means and are reciprocally movable in cooperation with each other although they are independent of each other.

  That is, when the original image reading operation is performed by the sheet through method, the first carriage 68 is moved and held immediately below the first image reading region (image reading position) R1 of the automatic reading glass 25a. At the same time, the second carriage 69 is held at a predetermined position. On the other hand, in the original fixing method, the first carriage 68 and the second carriage 69 maintain the optical path length of the original reflected light with respect to each other for a manually placed original. The glass 25b is reciprocated (scanned) below the second image reading region R2. The first carriage 68 and the second carriage 69 are driven by a carriage drive motor (not shown). The first and second carriages 68 and 69 have a home position directly below a white reference plate (not shown).

  Under such a configuration, the document reflected light irradiated from the lamp 61 and reflected by the image surface of the document is reflected by the first mirror 63 to the third mirror 65 and introduced into the lens group in the lens barrel 66. The light is condensed by the lens group and formed on the CCD sensor 67. The CCD sensor 67 performs photoelectric conversion processing, and the document image is read as an electrical signal.

  Next, the configuration of the hinge portion mounted on the image reading apparatus and the document conveying apparatus will be described in detail. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a hinge portion (the right hinge portion 80a when viewed from the front of the image forming apparatus 100) mounted on the image reading apparatus and the document conveying apparatus according to the present embodiment, as viewed from the rear side, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a front view of the hinge portion as viewed from the rotation side (left side of FIG. 7), and FIG. 9 is a plan view of the hinge portion as viewed from above. FIG. 10 is a side cross-sectional view (cross-sectional view taken along the line AA ′ in FIG. 9) of the hinge portion.

  As shown in the drawing, the hinge portion 80a includes a hinge base 83 supported by the frame of the image reading portion 6 (see FIG. 5), and a first hinge member rotatably supported by the hinge base 83 by the support shaft 84. 85 and a second hinge member 87 supported on the upper surface of the first hinge member 85, and the second hinge member 87 is fixed to the frame of the document feeder 27 (see FIG. 4). A screw hole 87a is formed. Further, the second hinge member 87 is supported so as to be slidable in a direction (arrow BB ′ direction in the drawing) perpendicular to the document conveying direction with respect to the first hinge member 85, and the hinge portion 80a has a second hinge. A position adjusting mechanism 90 for adjusting the inclination of the document conveying device 27 by sliding the member 87 in the direction of the arrow BB ′ is attached.

  The position adjustment mechanism 90 includes a rack 91 fixed to the upper surface of the second hinge member 87, a worm gear 93 that meshes with the rack 91, a handle 95 that rotates the worm gear 93, and the second hinge member 87 as the first hinge member 85. The lever 97 is configured to be pressed and fixed. The worm gear 93 and the handle 95 are fixed to the shaft 86, and the lever 97 is rotatably supported on the shaft 86 between the worm gear 93 and the handle 95. The shaft 86 is rotatably supported by support pieces 85 a and 85 b that stand substantially vertically from the upper surface of the first hinge member 85.

  The lever 97 is integrally formed with a cam portion 97a around the shaft 86, and the cam portion 97a has an eccentric cam shape in which the outer diameter from the shaft 86 to the outer peripheral surface gradually changes. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 10, the large diameter portion 97aa (see FIG. 12) having the largest outer diameter of the cam portion 97a comes into contact with the second hinge member 87 with the lever 97 pushed down. It has become. The distance between the shaft 86 and the second hinge member 87 is designed to be slightly smaller than the diameter of the large diameter portion 97aa.

  As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, when the lever 97 is pushed down, the upper portion (operation area) of the outer peripheral surface of the handle 95 is covered with the lever 97, so that the handle 95 cannot be operated. That is, by pressing down the cover 97, the first hinge member 85 and the second hinge member 87 can be fixed, and erroneous operation of the handle 95 can be prevented.

  Here, the right hinge unit 80a as viewed from the front of the image forming apparatus 100 has been described. However, the left hinge unit 80b is not provided with the position adjustment mechanism 90 described above, and instead the first hinge member 85. A hinge spring (not shown) for energizing the document conveying device 27 in the opening direction is housed in the interior of the. The biasing force of the hinge spring is appropriately selected according to the weight of the document conveying device 27. Since other parts have the same configuration as the hinge part 80a, description thereof is omitted.

  Next, a method for adjusting the inclination of the document conveying device 27 will be described. First, an outer lid (not shown) provided on the cover member 31 of the document feeder 27 is removed to open the storage recess 98 (see FIG. 11). The storage recess 98 stores a pad for cleaning the contact glasses 25a and 25b, a clip for binding a document, a staple, and the like. Since the hinge portion 80a is located immediately below the storage recess 98, the lever 97 of the position adjustment mechanism 90 is exposed as shown in FIG. 11 by removing the inner lid (not shown) of the storage recess 98. .

  Next, as shown in FIG. 12, the large-diameter portion 97aa of the cam portion 97 is retracted from the second hinge member 87 by pulling up the lever 97. Thereby, the force which press-contacts the 2nd hinge member 87 to the 1st hinge member 85 does not act, and the 2nd hinge member 87 becomes slidable in the arrow BB 'direction.

  In this state, when the handle 95 is rotated in one direction (clockwise in FIG. 12), the worm gear 93 is also rotated in the clockwise direction via the shaft 86, so that the phase of the gear teeth of the worm gear 93 advances in the rack 91. The force in the direction (arrow B ′ direction in FIG. 12) acts. Accordingly, the second hinge member 87 to which the rack 91 is fixed moves in the direction of the arrow B ′, and the side fixed to the second hinge member 87 of the document conveying device 27 (the right side when viewed from the front of the apparatus) is also in the direction of the arrow B ′. Move to (rear side of device).

  On the other hand, when the handle 95 is rotated in the opposite direction (counterclockwise in FIG. 12), the worm gear 93 is also rotated counterclockwise via the shaft 86, so that the phase of the gear teeth of the worm gear 93 advances in the rack 91. The force in the direction (arrow B direction in FIG. 12) acts. Accordingly, the second hinge member 87 to which the rack 91 is fixed moves in the direction of arrow B, and the side fixed to the second hinge member 87 of the document conveying device 27 (the right side when viewed from the front of the apparatus) is also in the direction of arrow B (apparatus). Move to the front).

  After adjusting the inclination of the document conveying device 27, the lever 97 is pushed down again, so that the large diameter portion 97aa of the cam portion 97a contacts the second hinge member 87. Therefore, the second hinge member 87 is moved by the cam portion 97a. The hinge member 85 is pressed and fixed securely.

  According to the embodiment, the rack 91 fixed to the second hinge member 87, the worm gear 93 that meshes with the rack 91 rotatably supported by the first hinge member 85, and the handle 95 that rotates the worm gear 93 are provided. Since the first hinge member 85 and the second hinge member 87 are fixed and released by the lever 97, the inclination of the document conveying device 27 can be easily adjusted without using a tool such as a screwdriver. The document transport device 27 can be securely fixed at the adjusted position.

  Further, since the handle 95 and the lever 97 can be easily operated from the front side of the image forming apparatus 100, it is necessary to work around the back or side of the image forming apparatus 100 when adjusting the inclination of the document conveying device 27. And workability is improved. Further, when the lever 97 is pushed down, the lever 97 covers the handle 95, so that an erroneous operation of the handle 95 can be prevented.

  In the present embodiment, the first hinge member 85 and the second hinge member 87 are slid by meshing between the rack 91 and the worm gear 93. For example, a rack that stands upright in the second hinge member 87 is formed. It is also possible to move the second hinge member 87 by rotating the pinion gear by the handle using a rack and pinion type gear structure in which the first hinge member 85 is provided with a pinion gear meshing with the rack. However, when the rack 91 and the worm gear 93 are used as in the present embodiment, it is preferable because rattling due to gear backlash can be reduced.

  Although the method of adjusting the tilt by exposing the lever 97 of the position adjustment mechanism 90 with the document conveying device 27 closed is described here, the document conveying device 27 is opened and the entire position adjusting mechanism 90 is moved. It goes without saying that the inclination can be adjusted by exposing the image reading unit 6 to the upper surface.

  The adjustment of the inclination of the document conveying device 27 may be finely adjusted by operating the handle 95 based on the result of actually printing the document, or the first carriage 68 and the second carriage 69 may be read in a sheet-through manner. The inclination of the document conveying device 27 may be detected by stopping the position and reading a determination chart (detection pattern) formed on the lower surface of the conveying guide 53.

  Specifically, when the lamp 61 is irradiated along the reading line with the first and second carriages 68 and 69 stopped at the image reading position and the reflected light is read by the CCD sensor 67, the CCD output value is manipulated. Displayed on the panel 55.

  The operator visually observes the CCD output value displayed on the operation panel 55, and when the document conveying device 27 is tilted, the operator rotates the handle 95 of the position adjusting mechanism 90 by a predetermined amount in a predetermined direction. The right side is moved in the front-rear direction toward the front of the document feeder 27.

  Then, the rotation of the handle 95 is stopped when the peak appearance position and the peak width of the CCD output value coincide with the peak appearance position and the peak width of the reference output value previously stored in the storage unit (not shown) on the operation panel 55. And fixed by the lever 97. Thereby, the inclination of the document conveying device 27 can be adjusted without actually performing printing.

  Here, the inclination of the document conveying device 27 is displayed by the peak waveform of the CCD output value and the reference output value, but these can also be displayed as numerical values. In this case, for example, the peak appearance position and the peak width of the reference output value are stored as reference numerical values in the storage unit, and the control unit (not shown) shifts the peak appearance position of the CCD output value from the reference output value ( For example, it is also possible to calculate as a tilt direction and to calculate a deviation result (for example, expressed in millimeters) as a tilt direction and to display a calculation result.

  Further, the relationship between the tilt direction of the document conveying device 27 and the rotation direction of the handle 95 and the relationship between the tilt amount and the rotation amount of the handle 95 are also stored in the storage unit in advance, and the operation result is calculated based on the calculation result by the control unit. The rotation direction and the rotation amount of the handle 95 can be displayed on the panel 55. In addition, a scale corresponding to the displayed rotation amount can be formed on the handle 95, which makes it easier to adjust the inclination of the document conveying device 27.

  In addition, by performing automatic document conveyance in a state where the inclination of the document conveying device 27 is adjusted as described above, it is possible to effectively prevent the read image and the print image from being inclined and distorted due to the inclination of the document conveying device 27. be able to.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various change is possible in the range which does not deviate from the meaning of this invention. For example, the shapes of the hinge base 83, the first hinge member 85, the second hinge member 87, the handle 95, the lever 97, and the like shown in the above embodiment are not particularly limited to the above embodiment, and the device configuration, etc. It can be set accordingly. In the above embodiment, the operation panel 55 is provided in the image forming apparatus 100 and is shared by the image reading apparatus 28 and the image forming apparatus 100. In addition, the operation panel 55 is provided exclusively for the image reading apparatus 28. You can also.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used in an image reading apparatus including a document conveying device that is supported by an image reading unit via a hinge unit so as to be opened and closed. At least one of the hinge units is a hinge that is fixed to the image reading unit. A base, a first hinge member rotatably connected to the hinge base, and a second hinge member supported so as to be slidable in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis with respect to the first hinge member And a lever that presses or releases the second hinge member against the first hinge member, and the second hinge member is slid against the first hinge member in a state in which the second hinge member is released from being pressed by the lever. A position adjustment mechanism including a gear mechanism to be moved and a handle to rotate the gear mechanism is provided.

  Accordingly, it is possible to easily adjust the inclination of the document conveying device without using a tool, and to easily fix the document conveying device at the adjusted position, and to simplify the image reading device excellent in maintenance workability. Can be provided in configuration.

6 Image reading unit 25 Contact glass 25a Automatic reading glass 25b Glass for manually placed document 27 Document conveying device 28 Image reading device 80a, 80b Hinge portion 81 Hinge foot 83 Hinge base 85 First hinge member 87 Second hinge member 90 Position adjustment Mechanism 91 Rack 93 Worm gear 95 Handle 97 Lever 97a Cam portion 97aa Large diameter portion 100 Image forming apparatus

Claims (6)

A contact glass for placing the manuscript;
An original conveying device that can be opened and closed upward with respect to the contact glass, and conveys the original to the upper surface of the contact glass;
An image reading unit provided at a lower portion of the contact glass and reading a document image placed on the contact glass or a document image conveyed to an image reading position by the document conveying device;
A pair of hinges for rotatably holding the document conveying device with respect to the image reading unit;
In an image reading apparatus comprising:
At least one of the hinge portions includes a hinge base supported by the image reading portion, a first hinge member rotatably connected to the hinge base, and a rotation axis perpendicular to the first hinge member. A second hinge member that is slidably supported in any direction and is fixed to the document feeder.
A lever that presses or releases the second hinge member against the first hinge member, and the second hinge member is used as the first hinge member in a state where the pressing of the second hinge member is released by the lever. A position adjusting mechanism including a gear mechanism that slides against the handle and a handle that rotates the gear mechanism;
The lever is configured to cover the operation area of the handle when the second hinge member is pressed, and to open the operation area of the handle when the pressure of the second hinge member is released. apparatus.   2. The image according to claim 1, wherein the gear mechanism includes a rack fixed to the second hinge member, and a worm gear that is rotatably supported by the first hinge member and meshes with the rack. Reader.   The lever is rotatably supported by a rotating shaft having a predetermined interval between the lever and the second hinge member, and a cam portion having an outer diameter changing from the rotating shaft to an outer peripheral surface is provided. 3. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a large-diameter portion having an outer diameter larger than an interval between the second hinge member and the rotation shaft is formed in the cam portion.   The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lever and the handle are operable from above the contact glass.   A detection pattern is provided at a portion of the document conveying device that faces the image reading position, and the image reading unit detects the inclination of the document conveying device with respect to the image reading unit by reading the detection pattern. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image reading apparatus is an image reading apparatus.   An image forming apparatus on which the image reading apparatus according to claim 1 is mounted.

Images