JP7395246B2 - Cassette and image forming device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a cassette that accommodates sheets and is installed in an image forming apparatus, and to an image forming apparatus equipped with the cassette, such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile machine, and a multifunctional device having the functions thereof.

Conventionally, a paper feed cassette installed in an image forming apparatus, which houses sheets inside, is a drawer-type box that is pulled out forward from the apparatus, and is slid back and forth relative to the apparatus when replenishing sheets. There are things to do. In order to facilitate operations such as pulling out a paper feed cassette, a handle portion protruding forward is formed on the front surface of the paper feed cassette, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. This handle portion has a recessed portion on which a finger can be placed. The user can pull out the paper feed cassette by placing his or her finger in the recess formed in the handle and pulling it toward him.

However, in the conventional paper feed cassette described above, the handle portion is formed to protrude outward from the exterior surface of the cassette, so the installation area of the image forming apparatus becomes large.

Therefore, for example, Patent Document 2 discloses an image forming apparatus including a paper feed cassette in which a handle portion is formed so as not to protrude outward from the exterior surface of the cassette.

In this image forming apparatus, a handle portion having an opening into which a finger can be inserted is formed on the front side of the paper feed cassette, that is, on the front cover, from the front side of the cassette toward the inside of the apparatus.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-204170 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-145627

However, in the case of the handle disclosed in Patent Document 2, even if a finger rest on which a finger can be hung is formed above or below the opening, the finger rest is buried in the plane of the front cover. Resulting in. Therefore, there is a problem in that the user cannot visually recognize the finger resting part on the handle part, and it is difficult to intuitively judge which side of the opening to put his or her finger on, which impairs the operability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to improve operability so that a user can grasp a handle provided on a cassette without hesitation.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a cassette that stores sheets therein and is removably mounted on an image forming apparatus, the cassette being provided on the front side in the pulling direction of the cassette and forming a flat surface. a front cover; an opening provided in the front cover; a recess recessed from the opening toward the inside of the cassette; a finger hook for hanging the image forming apparatus; and an engaging part that engages with a rail member provided on the image forming apparatus and is guided in the drawing direction; It is attached to the back side of the front cover provided with the opening and the finger rest from the side opposite to the front side in the direction of pulling out the cassette, the finger rest forming a plane with the front cover, and the bottom surface of the recess. A finger hooking direction identification portion is provided on the outer surface opposite to the surface facing the rail for identifying when the finger is hooked, and the engaging portion is arranged so that when the cassette is pulled out from the image forming apparatus, It is characterized in that it has a locking pawl that locks on a locking member provided on the member, and the locking pawl is provided below the engaging portion in the vertical direction .

According to the present invention, the user can intuitively identify the direction in which the finger is placed on the handle. Therefore, the user can grasp the handle provided on the cassette without hesitation, and operability can be improved.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus including a feeding cassette. (a) and (b) are perspective views of the cassette front cover of the paper feed cassette. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the handle of the paper feed cassette. (a) is an enlarged view of the handle of the paper feed cassette according to the first embodiment, and (b) is a front view of the handle. FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the handle portion of the paper feed cassette according to the second embodiment. FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the handle portion of the paper feed cassette according to the third embodiment. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus equipped with a multi-stage deck. FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a paper feed cassette and a multi-stage deck of the image forming apparatus. FIG. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of a handle portion of a multi-stage deck according to a fourth embodiment. FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an image forming apparatus. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which the paper feed cassette is pulled out from the image forming apparatus. FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state in which the paper feed cassette of the image forming apparatus is housed. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state when the paper feed cassette is pulled out from the image forming apparatus. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state when a paper feed cassette is taken out from an image forming apparatus.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail by way of example with reference to the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, and relative positions of the components described in the following embodiments should be changed as appropriate depending on the configuration and various conditions of the device to which the present invention is applied. Therefore, unless there is a specific description, the scope of the present invention is not intended to be limited thereto.

[Example 1]
Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus including a paper feed cassette according to a first embodiment will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an image forming apparatus equipped with a paper feed cassette according to the first embodiment. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an image forming apparatus equipped with a paper feed cassette according to a first embodiment. Note that the XYZ coordinate system indicated in FIG. 1 and subsequent figures is indicated to explain the installation direction of the image forming apparatus. Specifically, X is the width direction of the image forming apparatus, the arrow direction is the right direction, and the opposite direction of the arrow is the left direction. Subsequently, Y is the height direction of the image forming apparatus, where the arrow direction is upward and the opposite direction of the arrow is downward. Finally, Z is the depth direction of the image forming apparatus, where the arrow direction is the back direction and the opposite direction of the arrow is the front direction. Further, the ◯ symbol indicates the tip of the arrow for each of the X, Y, and Z axes, and the × symbol within the ◯ indicates the rear end of the arrow for each of the X, Y, and Z axes.

In the following description, first the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus will be described, and then the paper feed cassette will be described.

As shown in FIG. 10, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment is a tandem-type full-color multifunction device in which image forming units PY, PM, PC, and PK are arranged along an intermediate transfer belt 2.

In the image forming unit PY housed in the apparatus main body 3, a yellow toner image is formed on a photosensitive drum and is primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 2. In the image forming portion PM, a magenta toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum and is primarily transferred onto the yellow toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 2 . In the image forming portions PC and PK, a cyan toner image and a black toner image are respectively formed on the photosensitive drums, and similarly, the toner images on the intermediate transfer belt 2 are sequentially primarily transferred in overlapping positions.

The four-color toner images carried on the intermediate transfer belt 2 are conveyed to the secondary transfer section T2, and are collectively secondary-transferred onto the sheet S which is superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 2 and conveyed through the secondary transfer section T2. be done. The sheet S to which the toner image has been secondarily transferred in the secondary transfer section T2 is heated and pressurized by the fixing device 4 to fix the toner image on the surface, and then is discharged to the paper discharge tray 6 by the paper discharge roller 5. be done.

As shown in FIGS. 10 and 1, a paper feed cassette 9 that can accommodate sheets inside is attached to the lower part of the apparatus main body 3 so as to be able to be pulled out toward the front. The sheets S fed one by one from the paper feed cassette 9 wait before the secondary transfer section T2, and are sent out to the secondary transfer section T2 in time with the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 2.

An image reading section (flatbed scanner) 7 is arranged above the apparatus main body 3. The image reading section 7 optically reads the image of the bottom surface of the document placed on the reading surface (glass plate) and converts it into image data. , a document is placed on the reading surface 7a. The automatic document feeder 8 separates each document from the documents stacked on the document tray 8a, passes the document through a reading surface, and causes the image reading unit 7 to scan the document.

The operating section 1a is arranged at the height of the image reading section 7 with its operating surface facing upward. The operation unit 1a is for performing operations such as copy operation and scanner operation. The operation section 1a is provided with keys and a display section corresponding to various operations.

The paper discharge tray 6 is disposed between the apparatus main body 3 and the image reading section 7, and stacks sheets S on which images have been formed in the apparatus main body 3 so as to be removable from the front side.

The paper feed cassette 9 is arranged to be detachable from the front of the main body 3 of the apparatus. When replenishing the paper feed cassette 9 with sheets S, the user can hook his/her finger onto a handle 10 provided on the front side of the paper feed cassette 9 and pull out the paper feed cassette 9 toward the front of the image forming apparatus 1 .

As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, cassette rails 31 are provided on both side wall surfaces in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the paper feed cassette 9 is pulled out, and serve as a guide when the paper feed cassette 9 is pulled out. Furthermore, a frame rail 32 is provided on the lower inner wall surface 3a of the apparatus main body 3, facing the cassette rail 31, and serving as a guide for guiding the drawing out and mounting of the paper feed cassette 9. Although not shown, a frame rail 32 serving as a guide for guiding the paper feed cassette 9 is also provided on another inner wall surface of the apparatus main body 3 that faces one inner wall surface 3a. The paper feed cassette 9 is removably attached to the apparatus main body 3 by a frame rail 32 provided on the apparatus main body 3 and a cassette rail 31 provided on the paper feed cassette 9.

When storing sheets in the paper feed cassette 9, the paper feed cassette 9 can be pulled out to a position where the sheets can be stored. Further, when pulling out the paper feed cassette 9, after pulling out the paper feed cassette 9, the downstream side (front side) of the paper feed cassette 9 in the drawing direction can be pulled upward, and then the paper feed cassette 9 can be pulled out diagonally upward.

The frame rail 32 is slidably held by an outer rail 33 fixed to the inner wall surface of the device main body 3 and the outer rail 33, and is located downstream in the pull-out direction shown by the arrow in FIG. 12 (hereinafter referred to as the pull-out direction). It is composed of an inner rail 34 with a locking member 35 provided at the end. When moving the paper feed cassette 9, the cassette rail 31, which is an engaging part, is engaged with the inner rail 34, which is a rail member, and the paper feed cassette 9 is moved to the inner rail 34 while restricting the vertical movement of the paper feed cassette 9. move along.

At the downstream end of the inner rail 34 in the drawing direction, there is a roller member 36 that rotates along the cassette rail 31 of the paper feed cassette 9 around a shaft 36a so that the paper feed cassette 9 can be drawn out smoothly. It is provided. In addition, in order to smoothly pull out the paper feed cassette 9, roller members 37 that rotate along the upper guide surface 34a of the inner rail 34 and a lower guide surface of the inner rail 34 are provided on both side walls of the paper feed cassette 9. A roller member 38 that rotates along 34b is provided.

The roller members 37 and 38 are rotatably held by fixed shafts 37a and 38a provided on a roller support member 39 that constitutes a part of the cassette rail 31. Further, a locking pawl 40 is provided at the downstream end of the roller support member 39 in the pull-out direction to lock the locking member 35 of the inner rail 34 when the paper feed cassette 9 is pulled out.

The apparatus main body 3 and the paper feed cassette 9 are provided with a locking mechanism for stopping the paper feed cassette 9 from slipping out (preventing it from falling) when the paper feed cassette 9 is pulled out. As this locking mechanism, a locking member 35 is provided on the inner rail 34 on the side of the apparatus main body 3, and a locking pawl 40 that locks on the locking member 35 is provided on the roller support member 39 on the paper feed cassette 9 side. .

In such a configuration, when the paper feed cassette 9 is pulled out to store sheets, as shown in FIG. It is locked to a locking member 35 which is a locking mechanism provided on the surface 34b. When the paper feed cassette 9 is further pulled out, the paper feed cassette 9 slides integrally with the inner rail 34 with respect to the outer rail 33 with the locking claw 40 being locked with the locking member 35.

As a result, the paper feed cassette 9 is pulled out while pulling out the inner rail 34 integrally, and after this, a stopper (not shown) provided on the inner rail 34 engages with the outer rail 33, and the inner rail 34 is pulled out. The paper feed cassette 9 stops in this state. By pulling out the paper feed cassette 9 in this manner, sheets can be stored in the paper feed cassette without being separated from the main body of the image forming apparatus.

When removing the paper feed cassette 9 from the apparatus main body 3 of the image forming apparatus, as shown in FIG. 14, the downstream side of the paper feed cassette 9 that has been pulled out from the apparatus main body in the drawing direction is lifted upward. As a result, the locking claw 40 of the paper feed cassette 9 and the locking member 35 of the inner rail 34 are disengaged, and by further pulling out the paper feed cassette 9 in this state, the paper feed cassette 9 can be removed from the main body 3 of the apparatus. It can be removed (pulled out).

As shown in FIG. 1, a flat cassette front cover 12 is provided on the front side of the paper feed cassette 9 in the drawing direction (front direction). The cassette front cover 12 forms a plane with the main body front cover 11 provided on the front side of the image forming apparatus 1 when the paper feed cassette 9 is attached to the apparatus main body 3.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2(a), a handle portion 10 having a rectangular opening 13 is provided on the front surface of the cassette front cover 12. As shown in FIG. 3, the handle portion 10 includes a recessed portion 15 that is recessed toward the inside of the paper feed cassette 9 from the opening portion 13. The recess 15 is attached to the back side of the cassette front cover 12 of the paper feed cassette 9, as shown in FIG. 2(b). The recess 15 is attached to the back side of the cover 12 at a position corresponding to the opening 13 provided in the cassette front cover 12 so as to cover the opening 13 and a finger hook 17, which will be described later.

Further, the recess 15 has a bottom surface 14. In the handle section 10, a finger hook section 17 is provided on the opposite side of the bottom surface 14 of the recessed section 15, on which a finger is hung when pulling out the paper feed cassette 9. The finger hook 17 is arranged below the lower edge of the opening 13. When pulling out the paper feed cassette 9, the user inserts his or her finger into the recess 15 through the opening 13, hooks the finger onto the finger hook 17, and pulls out the paper feed cassette 9 toward the user. Although the present embodiment illustrates a configuration in which the finger hook 17 is provided on the lower end side of the opening 13, the present invention is not limited to this. Also good. However, if the paper feed cassette 9 is pulled out and a vertically upward force is applied to the paper feed cassette 9 before the locking member 35 on the apparatus main body 3 and the locking claw 40 on the paper feed cassette 9 engage, There is a possibility that the locking pawl 40 on the paper feed cassette 9 side will climb over the locking member 35 on the apparatus main body 3 side, and the paper feed cassette 9 will come off from the apparatus main body 3. If the finger hook portion 17 of the paper feed cassette 9 is provided on the upper side in the vertical direction, a force from the user's hand in the upper direction in the vertical direction is likely to act on the paper feed cassette 9 when the user pulls out the paper feed cassette 9. Therefore, in a device and a paper cassette that have a locking mechanism for the paper cassette 9 as shown in this embodiment, when pulling out the paper cassette 9, the user's hand should not apply upward force in the vertical direction. It is desirable to provide the finger hook 17 of the paper feed cassette 9 on the lower side. Further, the locking pawl 40 is preferably provided on the same side of the cassette rail 31 in the vertical direction as the side on which the finger hook 17 is provided with respect to the opening 13 (in this case, on the lower side in the vertical direction).

Further, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the finger hook 17 has a width x and a height y1 in consideration of operability when the user pulls out the paper feed cassette 9. In this example, the width x is 100 mm. Note that the width x is preferably designed to fall within the range of 90 mm≦x≦200 mm. The length (height y1 + height y2) from the upper end of the opening 13 to the lower end of the groove 20a in the vertical direction is 60 mm, and the length ( The height y1) is set to 15 mm. That is, the opening width (height y2) from the upper end to the lower end of the opening 13 in the vertical direction is 45 mm. Since the vertical length (height y3) of the uppermost paper feed cassette shown in FIG. 8 is 90 mm, the vertical length from the upper end of the opening 13 to the lower end of the groove 20a (height y1 + height y2) is preferably set to y1+y2<80 mm. Further, the opening width (height y2) of the opening 13 in the vertical direction is preferably set to about 40 mm≦y2≦60 mm so that a finger can easily be inserted. Further, it is preferable that the height y1 of the finger rest part 17 in the vertical direction satisfies 10 mm≦y1 so that a finger can rest thereon. In addition, a rib 18 is provided on the finger rest surface 16 of the finger rest 17 facing the bottom surface 14 of the recess 15 to prevent the finger from slipping when the finger rests on it.

Further, the recess 15 includes an inclined portion 15a on the upper side of the recess 15, as shown in FIG. The paper feed cassette 9 is located below the line of sight for many users. Therefore, the user's line of sight when looking at the opening 13 of the handle portion 10 provided in the paper feed cassette 9 is at an angle of depression, and the upper side of the recess 15 recessed toward the inside of the paper feed cassette 9 is difficult for the user to see. Therefore, it is conceivable that a user who ignores the finger hooking direction identifying section 20, which will be described later, may attempt to pull out the paper feed cassette 9 by hooking his or her finger on the upper side of the recess 15. In that case, the aforementioned locking mechanism for preventing the paper feed cassette 9 from falling off may not work, and the paper feed cassette 9 may fall out of the apparatus main body.

Therefore, in the paper feed cassette 9 of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the upper side of the recess 15 is sloped upward from the bottom surface 14 side of the recess 15 toward the opening 13 side (slanted portion 15a). The shape is intentionally designed to make it difficult for the user's fingers to get caught. Even if the user who pulls out the paper feed cassette 9 ignores the finger hooking direction identification unit 20 and hooks his or her finger on the upper side of the recess 15 (slanted portion 15a), it is difficult for the user to hook his or her finger on the upper side of the recess 15. In this case, the user must put his/her finger back on the lower finger hook 17 to pull out the paper feed cassette 9. Therefore, it is preferable that the inclined part 15a of the recessed part 15 is provided on the side opposite to the side where the finger hook part 17 is provided with respect to the opening part 13 in the vertical direction.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4(a), the finger hook 17 forms a plane with the cassette front cover 12. As shown in FIGS. That is, the finger hook part 17 of the handle part 10 does not protrude outward from the cassette front cover 12 which forms a plane with the main body front cover 11. Further, as shown in FIG. 4(a), a finger hook direction identification portion 20 is provided on the outer surface of the finger hook portion 17 opposite to the surface facing the bottom surface of the recess 15 to identify when the finger is hooked. It is being Here, the finger hooking direction identifying portion 20 is a groove 20a provided on the back surface of the finger hooking portion 17 along the width x of the opening 13 and the height y1, which is the depth of the finger hooking portion 17. This finger hooking direction identifying section 20 allows the user to intuitively identify on which side of the opening 13 there is an area for hooking the finger when pulling out the paper feed cassette 9.

As shown in FIG. 4B, the groove 20a is continuous with the opening 13 on the surface of the cassette front cover 12 of the paper feed cassette 9. As shown in FIG. That is, at the boundary 12b between the groove 20a and the opening 13 shown in FIG. 4(b), the groove 20a and the opening 13 are continuous without a wall separating them spatially. In the boundary portion 12b shown in FIG. 4(b), the depth of the groove 20a and the depth of the recess 15 change. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the depth h1 of the recess 15 is deeper than the depth h2 of the groove 20a. Here, the depth h1 of the recess 15 is the depth from the surface 12a of the cover 12 to the bottom surface 14 of the recess 15, as shown in FIG. This is the depth from the bottom 20a1 of the groove 20a. Note that, at the boundary 12b between the groove 20a and the opening 13, a wall that spatially separates the groove 20a and the opening 13 may be provided integrally with the cassette front cover 12 forming the paper feed cassette 9. Moreover, although the groove 20a is shown here as being continuous with the opening 13 on the surface of the cassette front cover 12, the present invention is not limited to this, and the groove 20a and the opening 13 may be discontinuous.

By providing the groove 20a as the finger-hanging direction identifying section 20 in the handle portion 10 in this way, the user can hang his/her finger on the handle portion 10 without getting confused. Further, since the handle portion 10 on which a finger can be hung is formed from the front of the paper feed cassette 9 toward the inside of the apparatus, the installation area of the apparatus main body can be reduced.

[Example 2]
In the above-described first embodiment, in the handle portion 10, the groove 20a provided along the width x of the opening 13 and the height y of the finger rest 17 is used as the finger rest direction identification portion 20 provided on the outer surface of the finger rest 17. Although illustrated, the present invention is not limited thereto. Note that the configuration other than the finger-holding direction identifying section 20 is the same as that of the first embodiment described above, and therefore the description thereof will be omitted.

In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the finger hook direction identification section 20 includes a line drawn on the outer surface of the finger hook 17 along the width x of the opening 13 and the height y, which is the depth of the finger hook 17. It is 20b. The line 20b is drawn by, for example, a scribing line or known silk printing.

By providing the line 20b as the finger hook direction identification section 20 on the handle section 10 in this way, the user can hang his or her finger on the handle section 10 without hesitation, as in the above-described embodiment.

[Example 3]
In the third embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the finger hook direction identification section 20 has a color on the outer surface of the finger hook 17 in a region corresponding to the width x of the opening 13 and the height y, which is the depth of the finger hook 17. The color is different from that of the front cover 12. That is, as the finger-hanging direction identifying section 20, a colored region 20c having a width x and a height y is provided on the outer surface of the finger-holding section 17.

By providing the colored area 20c as the finger hooking direction identifying section 20 on the handle portion 10 in this way, the user can hang his/her finger on the handle portion 10 without hesitation, similar to the above-described embodiment.

[Example 4]
In the fourth embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, when the user wants to increase the cassette capacity, the main body 3 of the image forming apparatus 1 is provided with a multi-stage deck 21 that can be attached below the paper feed cassette 9. There is. The multi-stage deck 21 is provided with a plurality of multi-stage cassettes 22 that have a larger sheet loading capacity than the paper feed cassette 9 of the image forming apparatus 1 . Further, the multi-stage cassette 22 is configured to be detachable from the multi-stage deck 21 in the same manner as the paper feed cassette 9.

As shown in FIG. 8, the front surface of the multi-stage cassette 22 is provided with a multi-stage front cover 23 that forms a plane with the main body front cover 11 and the cassette front cover 12, similarly to the paper feed cassette 9. A handle portion 24 having a rectangular opening 25 similar to that of the paper feed cassette 9 is provided on the front surface of the multistage front cover 23 . Like the handle part 10, the handle part 24 is provided with a recessed part extending from the opening part 25 toward the inside of the multistage cassette 22. In the handle part 24, a handle part 26 for attaching and detaching the multi-stage cassette 22 is rotatably provided on the opposite side of the bottom surface of the recess. As shown in FIG. 9, by tilting the handle portion 26 outward, a locking mechanism (not shown) is released and the multi-stage cassette 22 can be pulled out from the multi-stage deck 21.

In this manner, when the user pulls out the multi-tiered cassette 22, the user can pull the multi-tiered cassette out of the multi-tiered deck 21 while unlocking the multi-tiered cassette by hooking his finger on the handle portion 26 and tilting it forward.

In such a configuration, in this embodiment, the width x and height y of the finger hooking direction identification part 20 in the handle part 10 of the paper feed cassette 19 are made to be equal to the width x and height y of the handle part 26. It is composed of As a result, when a user attaches or removes the paper feed cassette 9, the user can easily identify the direction in which the user should place his or her finger, since the direction in which the user should place his/her finger on the handle portion matches the direction in which the user should place his or her finger on the handle portion 26 of the multi-tiered deck. .

[Other Examples]
In the embodiment described above, four image forming units are used, but the number of image forming units used is not limited and may be set as appropriate as necessary.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiments, a copying machine was used as an example of the image forming apparatus, but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be used, for example, with other image forming apparatuses such as printers and facsimile machines, or with a combination of these functions. It is also possible to use other image forming apparatuses such as multifunction peripherals. In addition, an example of an image forming apparatus that uses an intermediate transfer body, sequentially transfers toner images of each color onto the intermediate transfer body, and transfers the toner images carried on the intermediate transfer body onto a sheet all at once is exemplified. , but is not limited to this. The image forming apparatus may also be an image forming apparatus that uses a sheet carrier and transfers toner images of each color in a sequentially overlapping manner onto a sheet carried by the sheet carrier. Similar effects can be obtained even when the present invention is applied to cassettes used in these image forming apparatuses.

Furthermore, in the embodiments described above, a cassette that can be attached to and detached from the image forming apparatus is illustrated, but the present invention is not limited to this. In a sheet feeding device such as the multi-stage deck that is detachable from the image forming apparatus, a cassette that is detachable from the sheet feeding device may be used. Similar effects can be obtained even if the present invention is applied to this cassette.

Further, in the above-described embodiments, an electrophotographic method is used as an example of the recording method, but the present invention is not limited to this, and other recording methods such as an inkjet method may be used.

1 ... Image forming apparatus 3 ... Apparatus main body 9 ... Paper cassette 10 ... Handle section 11 ... Main body front cover 12 ... Cassette front cover 13 ... Opening section 14 ... Bottom surface 15 ... Recessed part 16 ... Finger rest surface 17 ... Finger rest part 18 ... Rib 20 …Finger hanging direction identification portion 20a…Groove 20b…Line 20c…Colored area 21…Multi-stage deck 22…Multi-stage cassette 23…Multi-stage front cover 24…Handle portion 25…Opening portion 26…Handle portion

Claims (12)

A cassette that stores sheets inside and is removably attached to an image forming apparatus,
a flat front cover provided on the front side in the direction in which the cassette is pulled out;
an opening provided in the front cover; a recessed portion recessed from the opening toward the inside of the cassette; and a recessed portion provided vertically below the opening for hanging a finger when pulling out the cassette. A handle portion including a finger hook portion;
an engaging portion that engages with a rail member provided on the image forming apparatus and is guided in the pull-out direction;
has
The recess is attached to the back side of the front cover where the opening and the finger hook are provided from the opposite side to the front side in the direction in which the cassette is pulled out,
The finger hook portion forms a plane with the front cover, and has a finger hook direction identification portion on an outer surface opposite to a surface facing the bottom surface of the recessed portion for identifying finger hooking.
The engaging portion has a locking claw that locks into a locking member provided on the rail member when the cassette is pulled out from the image forming apparatus;
the locking pawl is provided on the vertically lower side of the engaging portion;
A cassette characterized by: 2. The cassette according to claim 1, wherein the finger hook direction identification portion is a groove provided on the outer surface of the finger hook along the width of the opening and the depth of the finger hook. 2. The cassette according to claim 1, wherein the finger hook direction identification portion is a line drawn on the outer surface of the finger hook along the width of the opening and the depth of the finger hook. 2. The finger hooking direction identification section has a color different from the color of the front cover in an area of the width of the opening and the depth of the finger hook on the outer surface of the finger hook. cassette. 5. The surface of the finger hook portion facing the bottom surface of the concave portion is provided with a rib to prevent the finger from slipping when the finger hook is placed on the finger hook. cassette. 6. The front cover forms a plane with a main body front cover provided on the front surface of the image forming apparatus when the cassette is attached to the image forming apparatus. cassette. A claim characterized in that the recess has, on a side opposite to the opening on which the finger hook is provided in the vertical direction, an inclined portion that is inclined upward from the bottom surface toward the opening. The cassette according to any one of items 1 to 6 . A cassette according to any one of claims 1 to 7 ,
an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet fed from the cassette;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a multi-tiered deck that is removably attached to the image forming apparatus below the cassette, has a plurality of cassettes that house sheets therein and is detachably mounted;
Each cassette included in the multi-stage deck is
a flat front cover provided on the front side in the direction in which the cassette is pulled out;
an opening provided in the front cover; a recess recessed from the opening toward the inside of the cassette; and a rotation provided vertically above or below the opening for attaching and detaching the cassette. a handle portion having a handle portion capable of handling the handle portion;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 8 , characterized in that it has: A finger-hanging direction identifying section included in the handle of the cassette mounted on the image forming apparatus is arranged along the width and depth of the handle section of the handle of the cassette mounted on the multi-stage deck on the outer surface of the finger-holding section. The image forming apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the image forming apparatus is a groove provided therein. A finger-hanging direction identifying section included in the handle of the cassette mounted on the image forming apparatus is arranged along the width and depth of the handle section of the handle of the cassette mounted on the multi-stage deck on the outer surface of the finger-holding section. The image forming apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the image forming apparatus is a drawn line. A finger-hanging direction identifying section included in the handle of the cassette mounted on the image forming apparatus is arranged on the outer surface of the finger-holding section in a region corresponding to the width and depth of the handle of the handle of the cassette mounted on the multi-stage deck. The image forming apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the coloring is different from the coloring of the front cover.

Images